Dinner salads are tricky. You're basically juggling three slightly contradictory concepts. You want the lightness and freshness of a salad. You want to be full and satisfied after dinner. And you don't in any way, shape. or form want to create some kind of horrible Applebee's salad monstrosity full of iceberg lettuce and deep-fried things. But I have a few things I like to do with a dinner salad that I think makes for some good eating. And to illustrate them, Tuesday night's dinner salad:

First big technique - dress everything except the lettuce. Don't dress the lettuce. Don't really dress the finished salad. But dress the main meat and vegetable components, almost like a marinade. For example, on Tuesday, I had chicken, bell pepper, and tomato. I would have had cucumber, but I realized I didn't actually buy any this weekend like I'd thought. Whoops. Anyway, these got mixed with the dressing (more on this in a bit) and left to sit for a good half hour. The resulting mixture then topped a nice bed of otherwise dry lettuce. This lets you do the other thing I like in a dinner salad.

And that's a strong dressing. I do not fuck around with 2:1 or 3:1 viniagrettes. If the vinegar is good enough, then you can, and should, go 1:1. And I had some balsamic vinegar laced with fig and spices handy. That, a clove of garlic, salt, pepper, a couple drops of brown mustard, buzzed with a stick blender and thinned out with a couple of teaspoons of water - the result is a thick, slightly sweet, very strong dressing. It doesn't overpower, because it's used to coat all kinds of stuff, then you eat it with the dry lettuce.

Grilled chicken is common, but if you don't have a grill handy, or don't feel like getting out and cleaning up the grill pan, you can do what I did, and slowly pan-roast a couple of chicken breasts, seasoned simply with salt and pepper, and browned over medium heat in a cast-iron skillet. Once it's cooked through, let it cool and slice it and toss it with your vegetables and dressing.

Finally, toppings. You want the toppings to add punches of flavor and texture that either complement what you already have, or fill some holes in. Crumbled chevre added creaminess and tang. Toasted pine nuts are classic with goat cheese and balsamic vinegar, for their nuttiness and crunch. In a different salad, but filling the same ecological niche, things like crumbled good bacon, sundried tomatoes, thinly sliced scallion, etc. Avoid the temptation to use tortilla strips or fried Chinese noodles here. That way lies Applebees madness. 

If you can't get by without starch, just have a nice piece of bread on the side, maybe with a bit of butter. But you shouldn't need any. You've got savory, you've got crunch, and you've got just huge, exploding flavors. You'll be happy when you're done, even without preshredded cheddar or popcorn chicken on it.