Tracy Porter: Everyone loves a gorgeous salad. I do, and I love a gorgeous salad that is really easy to make and one that’s a total crowd pleaser. I love one that I can make, that I know my kids are happy with, then what John is happy with or anybody that I serve is happy with. So for me, that is the grill fashion chop salad. If you haven’t made a chop salad, you must make one. What’s so cool about chop salad you guys, is that you can pretty much make it whatever you wanted to be. I’ve picked my little fancy mix of ingredients; you can make yours whatever you want.
So, the great thing of a chop salad is, basically everything is just that. It’s chopped, all into little tiny pieces. So, I’ve pre-chopped all of this stuff. I’ve got red onions and Romaine. I’ve got hearts of palm which I love, and peppers, you know yellow peppers and red peppers and cucumbers. I’m even throwing fetid cheese into mine. I even bought it, so that’s, you know, pre-flavored - I love it like that. Some Garbanzo beans, some cilantro, which is perfect. The thing about chopped salad that are cool is, you want to thing about the layers that you’ve got going on. So, I like to choose things that sometimes have a little crunch, you know a little bit of color, like the peppers are great for that. I love the Romaine lettuce because I love how crunchy it is to.
I definitely would not use any sort of mescalines or anything like that, because you know they are just kind of, they won’t be very extended, they won’t stand up to all that energy. And the salad that you need to have; I love a little kick like an onion, you know that’s great. You could scallions or whatever, and some are herbs are great. Just grab a handful of whatever you can get your hands on and put it in. So, think about the different shapes of things, too. You know somethings you might want to cut a little bigger like this, maybe you want some of your peppers a little smaller. You are just thinking about layers. And then I toss into a bowl. I make a gorgeous vinaigrette. So, you can see this can be whatever you wanted to be. It’s so great for summer, you know for the warmer months, this is so cool, you can make it ahead of time, store it in the fridge. Don’t even put your dressing on it ahead of time, because the great thing about that is, then if you need to keep it for a little bit longer, you can. So, I’ve got honey, salt, pepper; I’ve got my Dijon mustard; I’ve got a big gorgeous shallot which I’ll hang-on to the very end. And, all I do is I pour in my olive oil, which for me for this one, is about half a cup. And then, I’ve got a few tablespoons of vinegar. Whatever it is, you’ve got on hand, I’m using Balsamic right now, I love it with a red wine vinegar, its great. And, I shall give it a whirl, and then just before its done, you know after it’s all emulsified, I’ll pop this in, give it another whirl, it’ll be all chopped up, and we are ready to go.
So, you know, when I’ve gone for about 30-40 seconds, I’ll usually taste it and just see, if I want a little bit more vinegar in it or a little bit more oil. You know I tend to like things a little bit more acidic but, do as you will. Then toss your shallot in, and give it a roll again, and your shallot will chop up just beautifully, and you’ve made a dressing in all about a minute, which is so awesome.
So, I’ve got this beautiful dressing and you know, depending on how much dressing you like on your salad, you can always adjust this up or down. You know, I really don’t like a chop salad that’s all goopy with dressing and everything like that. You know everybody is different; it’s a very personal thing, I realize. So, this is good as it gets. Oops! There goes my beans. I’m always dropping beans on the floor, it seems. Then I just throw it together. Sometimes, when people make chop salads, they’ll make like a pretty little kaleidoscope and, I am not doing that with you. I’m just tossing it all in a bowl and making my prettiness just by doing this. So basically, you can see, you know, it’s a cup here-there; you can adjust it if there is something you like more, I mean, something else, you know add a little extra that. But look how beautiful it is already, you know, just all of these beautiful colors and textures, and it couldn’t be, you know, a healthier salad. And, I usually give it a mix, you know, this way first. The other thing you can do with your dressing is, just put it in a little carafe on the table, or do a little, you know mini pitchers for everybody. That way, everyone can kind of adjust their dressing their own way, and, you know they can flavor it up or down.
Always serve a little bit of salt and pepper in a little dish on the side, so that people can also adjust that way. Oh, look what a gorgeous five-second salad that we just made - healthy, crunchy, beautiful. Are you ready to have a little gorgeousness in your life?
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