Friday, January 25, 2013

Eat your greens


Sometimes,when it comes to our nightly salad, inspiration flees. While I like salads of pure green, nothing but a leaf in sight, Vince looks at them and gets visibly depressed. So to tempt him to eat them I include layers of sliced raw vegetables, often quick-pickled, or I insinuate some nuts, some citrus segments. But when the chopping and thinking and pickling is too much of a challenge, I fall back on the my secret weapon: Cheese.

I know, it's a cheap shot.

So this is just a heap of wild arugula leaves, matchsticks of Granny Smith apple (because I keep the skin on, I wash the apple with soap, first - unless it is organic, apple skin is nicely coated with pesticides and wax) - both tossed in a vinaigrette. And then a cloud of parmesan cheese rasped over the top with the Amazing Microplane. Given to me by Germaine, my mother-in-law, it is one of the best things in my kitchen, even if my oft-grated right thumb does not agree.

The salad arrives, the Frenchman's eyes light up, and he actually helps himself.

5 comments:

  1. You came up with the good idea about this salad :) I also prefer pure green-leaved salads, but for my husband I had to smuggle between leaves pieces of cheese, ham or bacon.. and a lot of mayonnaise! and for him.. it's a perfect salad :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's 5.30am in my corner...that will do nicely for my breakfast.Perhaps with a soft-yolk egg, for protein.Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Same, same here. Mitchell wants me to empty the veggie drawer into a salad. By the time I get thru chopping all that stuff, I don't even want the greens any more; and he wants the stems of Romaine and not the leaves. What is that? if i dared to put something other than Romaine or iceberg (i know!) on his plate, he would die. it's like feeding a three-year-old!

    love 'em or leave 'em!

    ReplyDelete

  4. "...my oft-grated right thumb does not agree".

    Like you I have a tiny kitchen and try not to purchase single-purpose kitchen tools... but I learned that Microplane also makes a grater attachment for avoiding the "oft-grated thumb" situation. :) I haven't seen the attachment for the rasp (the long narrow one, right?) but I recently got the one for the grater. Will give it a try.

    I'll take an arugula salad any day...

    ReplyDelete

Comments on posts older than 48 hours are moderated (for spam control) . Yours will be seen! Unless you are a troll. Serial trollers are banned.