Basic green salad

This is another recipe that is easy to do, but tastes quite good. I will also give a couple of seasonal variations.

For the greens, I use a mix. On Sunday we used butter lettuce, red leaf, romaine, radicchio, arugula and a little bit of mixed spring greens. Frisee is also good, but I didn't use it on Sunday. Wash the greens, tear them into bite sized pieces, and dry them.

My basic salad dressing is to start with a dab of Dijon mustard, a splash of Worcester sauce, then one part balsamic vinegar to three parts Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Salt and pepper to taste. If you want to make it garlicy, add a clove of garlic through a garlic press. Sometimes I will let diced shallot steep in the vinegar for twenty minutes.

Then you can add toasted pine nuts, avocado, sun dried tomatoes, or whatever else you think will make the salad more interesting.

In the autumn I add slices of persimmon and shaved pecorino romano cheese. You can also use pear slices and dried jack cheese.

In the late autumn slices of fuji apples and blue cheese are yummy.

In the late summer, figs and queso manchego are perfect, not to mention vine ripened, organic, heirloom tomatoes. I also like to add julienned basil in the summer.