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Thursday, March 4, 2010

A Simple Salad

I love the peppery bitter undertones of arugula and radicchio lettuce leaves.  I have brasied radicchio and tossed arugula with warm pasta to wilt, but I prefer them in a salad where their true essence shines.
I combined them last night to make a very simple salad.

In a mixing bowl, I spooned a dollop of Edmond Fallot Green Peppercorn Dijon Mustard, two tablespoons of sherry vinegar, six tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, Tellicherry cracked pepper, and whisked everything together to emulsify into a vinaigrette.

I feathered the arugula and radicchio leaves into the bowl on top of the dressing and placed it in the refrigerator to chill.

At service time, I tossed the lettuce leaves with the vinaigrette from the bottom of the bowl and plated it.

Crisp.  Clean.
It was tart from the dijon and sherry vinegar, full-bodied from the extra virgin oive oil, and briny from the dijon soaked green peppercorns.

The buttery bitter radicchio and arugula lettuce leaves were assertive enough to stand up to the dressing.  Just barely dressed, clinging to the leaves, and unadorned.

Very simple.

I did serve it with  Thomas Keller's Bouchon inspired  French Onion Soup.  Soup a L'Oignon Gratinee.

That's another story.

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