Hi my name is Jen Mattson and I live in beautiful Austin, Texas and what that means is our summer lasts about eight months out of the year, instead of three. So we’re always looking for great new salads and I am going to show you one today. It’s very simple, easy to do and a lot of fun.
So, all I’m taking is this Microplane grater which I really love to use because it’s very, very handy and it makes a really nice, fine, paper-fine zest as you can see. So we’ve got a good, two tablespoons worth of lemon zest in there and I am just going to set that aside for now. I am going to use the juice for my lemons as well.
So, all I'm going to do is take your knife, cut them in half, lengthwise like so and squeeze the juice. So I’ve got my zest. I’ve got my juice. I am done with my lemons. All I am going to do is I am going to slice this kind of thinly. We’re going to do about a half inch thick slice. So straight into the lemon juice we go.
With our apple slices, I am just going to toss them in that lemon juice to coat. Okay, my apples are all nicely coated with the lemon juice, so they should be just fine. And now I am going to move on to the next stage which is my arugula.
Now, if you don’t care for arugula because it’s got a strong taste, it’s a peppery flavor. In Italy where it’s used a lot and in other places it’s known as rocket salad which is a really fun name because it’s got a powerful taste like a rocket and it’s peppery.
So it does have some bitterness to it and if that really isn’t your thing, you could substitute it with baby spinach and all I am going to do is I am going to toss it with a little extra virgin olive oil and you only need a couple tablespoons at the most, nice, pretty olive oil.
We’re going to salt and pepper it just ever so slightly, just a pinch and the pepper, freshly ground, cracked pepper, not a whole lot, just a little bit then we’re going to toss that with the arugula.
You start with your apple slices and just place a few of them sort of in a little pattern like that on the bottom of your plate. They’re dressed in the lemon juice. You’re going to take your arugula, a nice little handful like this and just kind of place it on top and then at this point, all we’re going to do is top it with a little of the lemon zest making it ever so pretty.
We’re going to take some Pecorino Romano cheese which is an Italian cheese. It’s sheep’s milk cheese. It’s sharp. It’s delicious, hard, creamy, great texture and a little goes a long way. Just take a vegetable peeler and just kind of shave a little bit of that Pecorino Romano cheese on the top for a lot, just enough to give it a little creaminess and a little zing and then the best part, the toasted walnuts.
I happen to love walnuts. They are full of antioxidants. They also have a rich, hearty flavor. You toast them to take out a little of that bitterness that can come with the walnut but you could certainly substitute a pecan or a hazel nut or a pine nut, something that you like better if you don’t care for walnuts.
That is really nice. The walnut runs a weight to it because of the hardiness.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services