Friday, March 19, 2010

Recipe Fridays: My possibly perfect salad

This salad was once lauded by a colleague with the following extremely dubious compliment: "This salad is really good.  I'd say it's the best salad I've had in the past three months."  And if that doesn't tell you all you need to know, I don't know what would.  No, seriously, it's good--he's just like that.

Arugula salad with melted tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and lemon dressing
  • First, make the "melted" tomatoes.  Halve cherry or grape tomatoes and arrange on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and fresh pepper.  Place under the broiler for 10-15 minutes, until tomatoes have shrunk and the surfaces appear to sizzle.  Leave to cool.  (This roasting technique really brings out the sweetness in tomatoes--try adding them to pasta.)
  • In the meantime, toast a small handful of pine nuts in a dry skillet.  Watch carefully and stir occasionally so they turn golden, but do not brown.  Leave to cool.
  • To make the dressing, whisk together 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard with 1 teaspoon honey.  Slowly pour in three tablespoons olive oil, whisking quickly (combining in this order will help the dressing stay together).  Just before serving, squeeze in half a lemon and a little lemon zest if desired and whisk.  Season with salt and fresh ground pepper.  You can add crushed garlic if you like more kick.
  • Combine baby arugula with tomatoes, pine nuts, and roughly chopped fresh mozzarella.  Sometimes, I add sliced apples (dipped in ice water with a squeeze of lemon to prevent browning), or steamed asparagus, but neither are necessary.  Stir in dressing, sprinkle on a few extra pine nuts, and serve.

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