Saturday is grocery day around here, and lunches get a wee bit creative sometimes. Also, “fast” for all of us doesn’t necessarily mean sandwiches. Still, when you serve salad to kids and they ask for thirds, that’s a recipe to write down.
Deli Salad with Bowtie Salad
Fresh greens, some deli favorites like hard cheese and sausage, and some canned veggies. Trust me - the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Also, per all of these recipes, feel free to swap out! I used Gruyere - if you have Blue, go for it! If you've got fresh herbs in odds and ends quantities, this is a great place to use them. Also, the traditional French version of this would use tuna instead of salami, and corn instead of artichokes.

Ingredients
- 1 bag arugula
- 1/2 bag watercress
- 2 cups precooked bowtie pasta
- 2 cans beets, rinsed and chopped
- 2 cans artichokes, quartered
- 1 can hearts of palm, sliced
- 1 small can black olives, sliced
- 6-8 oz sliced salami, chopped
- 6 oz Gruyere or Jarlsberg, cubed
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 4-6 hardboiled eggs, optional
- Balsamic or red wine vinaigrette (premade or from scratch)
Directions
- Step 1 Prep all ingredients. Add the dressing before tossing if you’ll eat all or most of the salad in one sitting. Otherwise add it to individual bowls
- Step 2 Gently toss the salad. Don’t go too crazy, or the beets will make everything pink!
- Step 3 Serve, with a smug smile when you hear the ensuing silence.