Previous Jolie salads can be found here.
Everybody knows that salad is the best part of the meal. Wait. That might not be right? But … could it be? I believe it might. You see, my superpower is making incredibly good salads. It is, admittedly, a strange superpower to have but we don’t exactly pick these things, now do we?
So from time to time, I’ll check in with you to let you know what’s been in my salad. And to talk Salad Theory with you. Maybe we’ll do some technique work? I know the New York Times is all “You can’t make a chopped salad at home!” but the New York Times is wrong and I intend to demonstrate exactly how wrong the New York Times is.
And there will be dressing! Oh yes, there will be dressing.
Today we’ve got a salad that’s heavy on pickled and jarred items. Pickled and jarred items! These are great for people who often get a li’l too ambitious in the produce aisle and find themselves with crisper drawers of rotting vegetation instead of the marvelously fresh salad they were so sure they were going to pull together as soon as they got home.
Not that any of us would know a thing about that. Nope. Not us.
The theory here (see? I promised you theory!) is that reducing the amount of fresh produce your salad requires means less crisper-drawer stress. The other wonderful thing about incorporating canned and jarred items into your salad is that they offer a lot of flavor without turning what’s purportedly meant to be a healthy endeavor into a bacon cheeseburger (which is well and good in its own time).
Not that any of us would know a thing about that. Nope. Not us.
With that bit of philosophizing out of the way, what is actually in this salad?!?
Leaves
Our Leaf of the Day is: romaine hearts! Why the look? You know, if you keep making that face it’ll freeze like that. Are…are you disappointed in romaine? Why ever? Romaine is a delicious and robust lettuce, and I wish you wouldn’t poo-poo it just because it doesn’t come in plastic clamshell packaging the way that those spindly, peppery things like arugula and mizuna do. ‘Lettuce Snob’ isn’t a good shade on anyone.
Fresh Things
• Cucumbers, quartered lengthwise and diced
• Celery, diced
• Red onion, thinly sliced
Canned, Jarred & Pickled Things
This salad had a li’l bit of everything!
• Canned hearts of palm (salad-cut, which oddly is cheaper and also pre-cut, so salad-cut it is!)
• Jarred roasted red peppers, sliced up into strips
• Sliced, pickled jalapenos, quartered. Spice up your life!
Cheese? Not today, bunny.
Meats? T’were none in the icebox, I’m afraid.
Nuts? We’re currently nutless.
Fruits? Also: Fruitless. But I mention the nuts and the fruits and the meats and the cheeses because those are great things to toss in a salad (groannnnnnn) because they taste good and also are a great way to use up the dregs of any of those things that are leftover and hanging around sullenly in your icebox like a bored teenager waiting for trouble to roll around for a playdate. We’ll talk more about the cheeses and meats and nuts and fruits when we get to An Introduction To Chopped Salad Theory and later in the Chopped Salad Practicum but I also want to encourage you to begin a self-directed course of study now if you so choose.
With What Did You Dress It, Dear Liza, Dear Liza?
With red wine vinegar (free hand), rock salt and a lotta lotta black pepper, Dear Henry, Dear Henry.
Oh right! No oil. I know! I’m in an oil-free salad stage? I find I don’t miss it. Would you like to take the plunge into oil-free salads with me? I think maybe you might be worried that without the oil that salad won’t have taste, which leads me back up to the Canned, Jarred & Pickled Things portion of the fun: those things give your leaves and lesser-flavored items a ton of great taste. Which is a wonderful alternative to dumping a half cup of Catalina dressing on top of all those fresh vegetables with their vitamins and nutrients and fiber and such. You can save the Catalina for your bacon cheeseburger.
