Italian In Season Salad

A chopped salad is so satisfying. It can be a light main course or a side dish. I love to serve it simply with either a hearty soup or a hunk of crunchy whole grain bread. I vary the veggies with the season: cucumbers in summer, but not in fall or winter. I swap green cabbage in for iceberg lettuce once the weather cools. Cherry tomatoes are key for me, no matter the season.

Makes 2-3 servings

Ingredient List:

• 1/3 head Romaine lettuce, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup coarsely chopped green cabbage
• ½ head radicchio, coarsely chopped
• 1 shallot, coarsely chopped
• 1/3 English cucumber, small dice
• 8-9 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 10-12 green olives, halved
• ½ cup cooked/canned chickpeas

Dressing:

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt

Step By Step Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the vegetables and chickpeas.

In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients (remembering that a vinaigrette is parts oil to 1 part vinegar, mustard or other acid), going light on salt as olives are in the salad.

Gently mix the dressing into the salad until the ingredients are coated with dressing.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Cook’s Tip: For this salad, in place of measuring, consider that people will eat about 2 cups of this delish salad. Cook’s Tip: Remember that dressing is meant to coat a salad, not drown it so add your dressing slowly as you mix so as to not over-dress the salad. Any leftover dressing can be stored in the fridge for another use.