Today’s recipe pairs salad greens with toasted walnuts and a lemon-mustard vinaigrette. What’s to like about this salad is the greens, which are a blend of peppery, spicy and hearty. Most grocery stores carry a variety of greens other than the standard lettuces. Although tossing in a few butter or bibb lettuce leaves would make a nice addition to this salad.
The vinaigrette is a standard one and super easy to make. And if you follow Bobby Flay’s advice when dressing and seasoning salad greens, you’ll bring out their flavor and use less vinaigrette, cutting fat and calories. When you put the greens and other vegetables in the serving bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper before adding the dressing. This brings out their flavor, especially with the spicy greens. To dress the greens, pour dressing around the sides of the bowl and push the greens, working from the sides in to just coat them with the dressing. Don’t pour the dressing on the greens because chances are you will add too much and the greens, especially tender ones, will be soaked not coated with the dressing.
If you like, add any cooked vegetables to this salad and top with cooked chicken or turkey.
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SWISS CHARD AND ARUGULA SALAD WITH LEMON VINAIGRETTE AND TOASTED WALNUTS
Serves: 4 / Preparation time: 10 minutes / Total time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 bunch (about 1/2 pound) arugula or spicy greens mix, thoroughly washed, torn into pieces if leaves are large
1 bunch (about 1 pound) chard, thoroughly washed, stems trimmed, and leaves cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
3/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts
Directions
In a small bowl, whisk together to emulsify the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, honey, Dijon, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Set aside.
In a large bowl, toss together the arugula, chard and onion. Sprinkle with a a few pinches of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Starting out with about 1/4 cup of vinaigrette, drizzle it around the sides of the bowl. Using salad tongs, toss the salad into the dressing working from the sides in. Divide the mixture among six plates. Sprinkle with walnuts, and serve with remaining vinaigrette on the side if desired. The dressing will keep at least week in the refrigerator.
From and tested by Susan M. Selasky for the the Free Press Test Kitchen.
176 calories (67 percent from fat), 14 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 13 g carbohydrates, 3 g protein, 521 mg sodium, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber.
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