LETTUCE WITH EVERYTHING

 

Caged lettuce.

I'm harvesting lettuce from the huerta! After two years without a garden, abandoned when rampaging wild boars dug up the tomatoes, I'm picking lettuce from a tiny fenced-in plot. With flowering tomato and squash plants, there is promise of more to come.

I’m making lettuce salad with everything! Tomatoes, peppers, onions, chickpeas, avocado, radish, corn, carrots, tuna, olives, capers, cheese, eggs--- But I am compartmentalizing these ingredients, setting up a “salad bar,” so that each person can add-on to please themselves. 

The freshly picked lettuce (6 cups, loosely packed, torn leaves) is simply dressed with ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar, and flaky salt. 

Lettuce with only extra virgin olive oil and vinegar.

On the side I’m serving a chopped salad of tomatoes, peppers, and onions, known as pipirrana, that can be heaped on the lettuce like a chunky dressing. Alongside are bowls of other accoutrements that guests can add as desired. 

This spread includes sliced radishes, corn kernels, mackerel fillets in olive oil, asparagus, artichoke hearts, olives, capers, grated carrots, chickpeas, queso fresco (fresh goat cheese), and fried croutons. 

Other salad additions: cooked green beans, cooked and diced potatoes, carrots, and beets; other legumes (butter beans are good); pasta, rice or other grains,  diced ham or chicken; anchovies, avocado, yogurt, pumpkin seeds, nuts, fruits.     

The "dressing" for the lettuce is the chopped salad of tomatoes, peppers, and onions.

Compose your own salad with a variety of ingredients.

Asparagus and goat cheese make a good combo.

Chickpeas, capers, radishes, crispy croutons, lots of cucumber in the chopped salad. Needs some mint and a dollop of yogurt to make it Middle Eastern in flavor.

No raw onions for this kid! He's picked the cherry tomatoes out of the chopped salad, added corn and shredded carrots.

Salad lunch, my everything salad--lettuce, mackerel, artichokes (garden), olives, radishes, chopped salad for dressing.

Tomato-Pepper Chopped Salad/Relish

Pipirrana

Vary the basic pipirrana, adding fewer or more ingredients. For example, if your people don’t like raw onion, just leave it out. Add corn kernels for more color and crunch. Capers for briny tang. All together they perk up the plain lettuce. 

Chopped parsley is the usual addition to pipirrana, but other fresh herbs can be used as well. Try basil, cilantro, mint, or tarragon.

The salad can be prepared in advance. Salt will draw the juices out of the chopped vegetables, creating the “dressing” for the lettuce. (The juices are also good sopped up with bread.) Save some of the fresh herbs to add immediately before serving.

1 cup chopped tomatoes or quartered cherry tomatoes

1 cup chopped green peppers

½ cup chopped red bell peppers

1 cup peeled and diced cucumber

½ cup chopped scallions or onions

1-2 minced cloves garlic

1-2 chopped hard-boiled eggs

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1-2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Chopped avocado (optional)

¼ cup corn kernels (optional)

2 tablespoons drained capers (optional)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix gently. If not serving immediately, cover the salad and refrigerate up to 24 hours.

Notes from a salad maven;  Your knife should be sharp enough to cut the skin of a tomato. Even after some honing, my everyday knife didn't make the cut. So, in honor of this salad, I brought out a new knife. What a pleasure! 

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With the next batch of lettuce from the huerta I’m going to try this take on gazpacho, Lechuga en caldo, lettuce in "broth," a recipe from Me Sabe a Málaga (“tastes like Málaga"). It’s chopped lettuce, olive oil, minced garlic, lemon juice or vinegar combined in a bowl with cold water to cover the lettuce, a sprig of mint to garnish. Serve with bread for dunking.

More salad ideas:

Moroccan Tomato Salad (Pipirrana). 

Catalan Escarole and Cod Salad with Romesco (Xató).

Spanish Mixed Salad.