the virtues of a chop salad

You know how when you are eating a salad and you look down into the bowl, unless you are barking at your kids to get back to the table or having an adult conversation, anyway you look into the bowl to get the perfect bite. The perfect bite might be a tender baby spinach leaf nestled into a crunchy candied pecan and maybe a crumb of blue cheese or it might be a bit of crisp romaine, a juicy wedge of Gold Current tomato, parsley and a thin ring of red onion.

Okay, so I do this.

And after spending two weeks eating and drinking and eating as if I am doing research on the GOUT, I decided to make more of an effort to create salads that I could really look forward to and that could maybe be considered meals.

salad # 1

chop salad

The following ingredients do not need to be measured, consider what you like and make substitutions.

Roughly Equal Parts of:

mushrooms

broccoli

sweet bell pepper

cucumber

celery

carrot

chick peas

basil

romaine lettuce

A bit less of:

provolone cheese

red onion

Chop everything, this is salad you eat with a spoon.

Dress the salad with a Gorgonzola vinaigrette...

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about 4 ounces)

This was so good I ate the leftovers for breakfast this morning and made another batch for dinner again tonight which both kids devoured.

I based this salad loosely on a salad I loove at Pizzeria Paradiso in Noho..