Salad Day ... Red Lettuces with Spiced Almonds, Green Olives, and Asagio Cheese

A simple salad for a sunny day when Silent Bob and I are dreaming of our own vegetable garden and what we will be growing this summer ...

We've been opening the doors and letting a cool Spring breeze into the house this morning. Everything looks horrible in the yard, all brown and mucky, woodchips all over the path from woodpile to porch door, deadfall branches littering the grass, empty seed shells under the birdfeeders, last season's grass tufts, matted and splayed. Sounds depressing, huh? But no ... because if you stand quietly and wait for the breeze to die down, you hear the water percolating in the soil, the branches with buds just beginning to take on that reddish blush clicking together, the Spring songs of the chickadees and titmice, and a subtle crunching sound of the grasses and plants drying out and loosening up as they get ready to send up new growth. Really ... go out in your world and listen to Spring. It's there!

Coming in for lunch, I'm eager to have an easy 'throw together', so this salad is perfect. I made those spiced almonds last week and still have a cup set aside. I've been eager for fresh greens of late, so I have the ingredients for a wonderfully fresh and crunchy salad with a tangy shallot dressing. I made this salad last week for a luncheon with three of my pals. Unfortunately, Silent Bob missed out on lunch that day, so I'm making it up to him today, by making this salad for the two of us... and it's meatless so I'm staying with my pledge to the Meatless Monday movement. I hope you enjoy this bit of green!
This recipe makes a large meal-sized salad for two. I plan to have it with a wonderfully flaky croissant and a glass of red zinfandel. Light and tasty and reminding me of a Spring day in June!

Red Greens with Almonds, Olives, and Asagio - printer friendly

Red Greens with Spiced Almonds, Green Olives, and Asagio Cheese

adapted from a recipe in Mark Kenney's mediterranean cooking

Ingredients:
6 c. washed and spun out greens – red romaine, red oak leaf, radicchio, romaine
½ c. spiced almonds
¼ c. Parmesan cheese, grated
16 green olives , preferably Spanish
1 small shallot, minced
1½ tsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp. chives, chopped
¼ tsp. black pepper
3 tbsp. walnut oil
4 large slivers Asagio cheese

Wash and spin the greens and place in a large salad bowl

In the container of a handblender, purée: shallots, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, black pepper, and walnut oil.

Add the chives to the dressing and stir to combine.

Toss the greens with the Parmesan cheese and dressing until coated uniformly.

Divide onto two large plates. Top with the olives, spiced almonds and slivers of Asagio cheese.