Leafy Green Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

Chapter 2: Salad Days - Page 20
Time: 5 minutes
Cost: ~$3 for 1 enormous serving, or about 4 side servings.

Sorry, no picture on this one. I forgot and ate it all before Drew came down to take pictures. It just looked like shiny lettuce leaves anyway… nothing fancy to look at!

Drew's Rating: N/A

Sara's Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.
This is excellent at what it is… a simple green salad. It’s great for a quick healthy lunch, or as an elegant starting dish for company.

And so begins the foray into the salad chapter. I admit, when I saw the ingredients list (greens, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper) for this recipe, I was disappointed. I thought there was no way this could be anything special. And I was wrong.

I cheated by purchasing bagged, pre-washed and cut greens (a mix of romaine, endive, and radicchio) instead of cutting them up myself. We don’t eat a lot of salad in our house, so I didn’t want to be stuck with tons of lettuce that would go bad in 3 days. If you choose to buy the greens separately, the recipe recommends a mixture of mild and peppery greens.

The dressing is all household staples, and couldn’t be simpler. Combine some red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and then whisk in the extra virgin olive oil. Drizzle over the greens, toss and done. Five minutes from opening the refrigerator to eating in front of the TV. Surprisingly, this super simple salad was very tasty. The recipe made the perfect amount of dressing for the salad (about 3 tablespoons for 8 cups), and it clung nicely to the leaves instead of pooling in the bottom of the bowl. I actually ate the whole bag with nothing extra added, and I wasn’t bored.

If you wanted to turn this into a full dinner, you could just throw in some cut up chicken or steak for protein, and any veggies you have lying around your produce bin. Salads can be a great vehicle for using up leftovers. (They rank up there with frittatas and burritos for accommodating a wide variety of ingredients!)