Ingredients: |
Ingredients: Depending on how much salad you want and what is fresh:
A variety of greens that can include: Spring Greens, Fresh Baby Spinach, Romaine or other lettuces (not iceberg)
Also:
1 Jar Artichoke Hearts
Fresh Hard Salami Stick
Fresh Mozzarella Balls (I usually get the marinated ones but I don't think that is critical as long as it is fresh mozzarella)
Seedless (or seeded) cucumber
Fresh Grape tomatoes
Black Olives seeded and sliced (or canned sliced)
Fresh Basil Leaves (a must)
Fresh Bell Peppers (I prefer yellow or orange but red is ok, do not use green)
Garbanzo beans (canned)
Red Onion
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
For the dressing:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
N/A freshly ground black pepper
|
Directions: |
Directions:For the greens:
Chop them into fork size pieces (don't go crazy, but this salad means I can fit it on a fork). Include some of the fresh basil while you do this so it gets incorporated into the salad. That will infuse great flavor throughout. Now add a little Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper and toss it up.
Then add in the following order (actually any order you want but I like to leave wettest to last)
The fresh bell peppers (slide longways into about 1/4 inch then dice)
The black olives (slice should be about 1/4 inch if you are using fresh olives)
The red onion (diced about 1/4 in) (getting the sense that 1/4 inch is good?)
The cucumber cut in quarters longway then slided.
The Grape tomatoes (cut in half longways).
Now add a little Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper and toss it up.
Mix it all up then add:
Fresh Hard Salami, cut into quarters longways then into slices (just like the cucumbers)
Artichoke Hearts (I just cut them up to around the 1/4 inch size)
Fresh Mozzarella Balls (again about quartered depending on size)
Garbanzo Beans (rinsed and drained)
Toss again and now add:
Fresh Basil chopped. I know we already did this but some final chopped basil never hurts just for the aroma.
Now for the dressing:
First, while you can make the salad the previous day, DO NOT toss the dressing until ready to serve. So I have made this salad only for holidays and I always make it the day before and bring the dressing in a separate container to toss just before dinner.
Second, I have used a couple different dressings and it worked out well every time. Basically a vinaigrette is what we're looking for. So feel free to experiment.
Third, make the dressing fresh no matter what you use. It is so easy to make vinaigrette that it would be sad to use a store bought dressing.
So I have included the ingrediants for a basic vinaigrette. Just combine in a blender or whisk in a bowl. Here's what I know, must have Dijon mustard and garlic. Otherwise, I've done orange or lemon to replace vinegar or varied the spices and also delicious.
|
This recipe for Chopped Salad is from