You may now know I serve a green salad year round with almost every dinner meal. There is just no better way to add a pop of freshness and color than a big wooden bowl of soft lettuces and my riff on a ceasar dressing. Feel free to have fun with additions if you like. Peek in the fridge or pantry. Have a few chives? A bunch of radishes? The recipe is perfect as is but you can totally add crisp thinly sliced vegetables, fresh ripe tomatoes, or toasted hazelnuts to the bowl. This is a lovely compliment to almost any foods from roasted chicken and potatoes to pasta or fajitas.
Lettuces with Vinaigrette
Serves 3-4
1 head lettuce, washed and dried
1-2 oil or salt packed anchovies
1 clove garlic, grated or finely minced
1 Tb sherry vinegar
Pinch of sea salt or maldon salt
½ Tsp dijon mustard
1 shallot, optional
3 Tb olive Oil
For the lettuce, choose 1 head of red leaf, green leaf, butterhead, or a mix of greens such as little gems, endive, treviso, radicchio, escarole.
If you have a mortar and pestle, add the garlic and sprinkle a little salt over it then pound it well. Then add the anchovy, dijon, and sherry. Pound well and drizzle the olive oil while mixing with the pestle. Add the chopped shallot and spoon over and around the washed and dried lettuces.
Taste the lettuce and adjust as needed. Do not be afraid to sprinkle a bit more sherry vinegar or add a pinch of salt. Add cracked pepper on the dressed lettuces to your taste. You can also increase the quantities of the vinaigrette and store it in the refrigerator in a jar. If you add chopped shallots to the vinaigrette it will only last 1-2 days.
Growing your own lettuce or buying from a farmer’s market will greatly increase the outcome of this salad. At the grocery store, I usually stick to radicchio and red leaf lettuces as they lack other varieties.