Salad Days

I bought some tiny romaine and red leaf lettuce plants about 3 weeks ago. They are doing great.

Lettuce is easy and fast to grow. I highly recommend giving it a try if you haven’t before. Do watch for slugs–they will devastate your lettuce crop if they get a foothold.

The Harvest:

My husband wants a salad for dinner, so I thought I would pick some of the outside leaves from the mesclun mix (not pictured above) that I have planted in the stock tanks, the red leaf and romaine lettuces, and I also pulled some of the baby arugula because they were planted too thickly. Phew, this is a lot of lettuce.

Here’s the recipe I am making:

Tortellini Chicken Salad with Sun Dried Tomatoes (Serves 2 generously)

4 oz cheese tortellini or other pasta, cooked, drained and cooled

4 oz grilled chicken, diced

2 marinated artichoke hearts, diced

12 sun dried tomatoes–marinated, or plumped in hot water if dried

2 oz feta cheese, crumbled

3 thin slices of red onion

Mixed greens

Vinaigrette Dressing

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp tomato paste

6 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste (I find that this needs quite a lot of salt compared to other vinaigrettes)

1/2 cup olive oil

In a serving bowl combine all the salad ingredients and toss. For the vinaigrette, puree the garlic, oregano, tomato paste, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor; then with blade running, slowly add olive oil to make a smooth emulsion. To serve, combine enough dressing (this recipe makes more than you need for two servings) with the salad ingredients to just moisten them. This is a flavorful dressing, so a little goes a long way.

Notes:

I usually make at least a double batch of the dressing because it is a little bit of a pain to make. You need to store it in the refrigerator. Before you can use it, you will need to allow it to stand on the counter to come up to room temperature. If it separates, just whisk it with a small whisk or fork.

This is a GREAT make ahead meal. You can put all the salad ingredients in your serving bowl and hold off on the dressing until it is time to eat. I usually just serve a crusty bread with it. I love it for a picnic.