It’s getting rather chilly here in northern Illinois…brrrrr! I had a campfire with my folks last weekend, we must have known the chill was coming! Wasn’t it summer just yesterday? They’ve already had the pumpkins and potted fall mums displayed at the grocery store this last week and though autumn is my favorite season, I’m just not ready. In fact, I spent a greater part of this morning daydreaming about summer salads. Yes, I wake every morning and daydream about what’s on my menu for the day…don’t you? Below are three salads that I still swoon to remember from Ristorante Antico Pignolo in Venice…

The fresh eggplant salad with ripe red tomatoes and chiffonade basil leaves drizzled with balsamic reduction and olive oil…faint.

The traditional Caprese with soft rounds of mozzarella, tomatoes and bright basil leaves, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic reduction and topped with black olives…insert heavenly singing here.

And the simplest, yet most delicious salad ever invented…ripe melon and tender, slightly salty prosciutto…I’m seeing stars.

If you’d like to have a go at making the melon and prosciutto salad, you’ll find inspiration here with Erin Gleeson of The Forest Feast. Her delightful site and cookbook are filled with splendid watercolors and enchanting forest arrangements that make her realistically simple recipes look oh so pretty!

For the Caprese salad, try Pioneer Woman’s recipe. She says she, “…love Caprese Salad so much it actually hurts.” I know how she feels!