Continuing with my newfound (and we’ll assume fleeting) love of healthy salads, I present to you what is, quite possibly, the healthiest dish I have put on this site so far this summer. Healthy or not, this is summer in a bowl. For sure.

This salad is pretty awesome, even salad-haters will agree. I really like how hearty wild rice is. Yes, it does take forever to cook on the stove, but you can make it a few days beforehand. It still maintains its texture and doesn’t get mushy, which is a plus. I decided to chop the blackberries in half because once you toss everything together and it sits in the fridge for a while, the berries macerate a bit and sort of incorporate themselves into the dressing. Gotta love it!

Aside from cooking the rice and blanching the beans beforehand, this salad is ridiculously fast to make. It’s all assembly, really. So, shall we?

Serves 5-6

Total assembly time: 15 min (plus 1 hour chill time)

What you’ll need…

2 cups cooked wild rice

1 cup yellow string beans (trimmed, 1″ chopped and blanched)

2/3 cup cow’s feta (loosely chopped or crumbled)

1/2 cup cucumber (halved, thinly sliced)

1/2 cup zucchini squash (halved, thinly sliced)

1/2 cup blackberries (halved)

1/2 cup fresh basil (loosely chopped or torn)

1/3 cup green onions (finely chopped)

4 artichoke hearts (quartered)

Dressing:

2 TBSP white wine vinegar

2 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP lemon juice

1 TBSP honey

2 TSP soy sauce

salt and pepper

Directions:

Place the first nine ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In another small mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, honey and soy sauce. Pour over the rice and vegetable mixture and toss with tongs or a spoon until evenly combined.

Set the salad sit in fridge for at least an hour. When you’re ready to dish out, give the salad another couple tosses and finish with some salt and freshly ground pepper, though you shouldn’t really need much salt since you’ve got a good amount of feta and some soy sauce in there!

Makes a great side dish for a barbecue and travels well! Just saying…

 Dan Clapson is a food writer and culinary instructor based out of Calgary. He is constantly creating new recipes and striving to expand his culinary horizons. He thinks yam fries are overrated.