Italian Salad

This is the salad that I served up the other evening with the Mussels and Fennel with Saffron Cream Sauce. I know I promised to have it up just a day after the mussels, but it's been a seriously hectic week starting my new quarter of school, plus trying to show my little sister all around Seattle!

The salad turned out AMAZING! I loved how herb-y the dressing was, and paired with the salty olives and cheese it was simply sublime. It was my personal favorite portion of the meal. Even Mikey, who only ever eats Caesar salads liked it!
This could also easily be made into an entree by adding a grilled chicken breast on top.

Italian Salad

recipe from here

serves 6 as a side salad

ingredients:

for the salad:

• 3 hearts of Romaine, washed, dried and cut into bite-sized strips
• 1 large carrot, peeled into strips
• 1 cucumber, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• handful of pitted olives (I used Nicoise olives)
• handful of grape tomatoes, halved
• Ricotta salata cheese, to taste

for the dressing:

• 1 cup loosely packed fresh Italian flat leaf parsley
• 10 big fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 tsp honey
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Make the dressing: add all of the dressing ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and blitz to combine. The dressing should be fairly thick. Pour into a container, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve salad.
2. Make the salad: combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Toss with the dressing, being sure to fully cover all the veggies. Serve immediately.