The summer of road trips and salads

Our road trip to Raleigh, North Carolina was incredibly fun. Seeing family, a new place and exploring another part of the south. It felt the same as our trip to Savannah and Hilton Head last weekend, only better because we were able to see some of my family. There is something about road trips that instills very interesting conversations - about race, religion, life.  There are moments I will cherish forever. 

We laugh now because a 5 hour drive seems so short to us these days. On Sunday, before we left, we went to the State Farmer's Market. Wow. What an incredible place. It was huge - multiple buildings of local vendors there, 7 days a week to see their goods. Produce, a butcher, seafood, jams and jellies, honey - you name it, it was there. It made me realize how important these kinds of markets are and how each state should have one. I wish, wish, we could go to these markets every week. I was in the best mood when I was there and all I wanted to do was buy vegetables and make beautiful dishes with them. For me, this is art.......

Before we left, we cooked a couple of wonderful salads that I have seen recently on Smittenkitchen.com.  The first one I will post is called Nancy's Chopped Salad, adapted mostly from the Mozza Cookbook by Nancy Silverton, Matt Molina and Carolynn Carreno. I really loved this Oregano dressing and plan on using it on regular salads or even pasta salads often. Admittedly, I didn't follow her directions in assembling the dressing or salad and I added green olives since I didn't have enough pepperoncini, but I still think it came out really well.

So, put on Come Get It Bae by Pharrell Williams and get cooking!

Nancy's Chopped Salad
Oregano Dressing
4 cloves garlic
1-2T dried oregano
2 tsp kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
2T lemon juice or juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil, ideally EVOO

Salad and Assembly
1 (15-oz) can chickpeas or 1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
1 small red onion, peeled and sliced into paper-thin rings
1/2 lb. provolone, sliced 1/8 inch thick then cut into 1/4 inch ribbons (they prefer an aged, hard provolone but I couldn't find at my store. I used regular and cut into 1/2 inch slices)
4 medium or 8 small pickled pepperoncini, sliced into rings
3/4 lb. cherry tomatoes
Sea salt
1 head iceburg lettuce, halved, cored, and cut into 1/2 inch ribbons
1 head radicchio, halved, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch ribbons (I used one bag of lettuce including radicchio and a head of romaine lettuce)
2 tsp dried oregano for garnish.

Make dressing: Roughly chop garlic (I minced) and then add oregano, salt, and up to 1/2 tsp ground pepper.  Chop the mixture together and use the side of a knife or a mortar and pestle to make a grainy herb paste. Transfer to a bowl and add lemon juice and vinegar. Mix with a fork to allow the salt to dissolve and whisk with a fork until well combined. The dressing should be thick with garlic and oregano. If you are using a small head of iceberg, transfer 1/3 of the dressing into a small bowl to be used if needed.  For more lettuce, use all. (I simply made the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together. It was very tasty but like the idea of making a paste)

Assemble salad: Gently fold the chickpeas, red onion, provolone, salami, pepperoncini (including seeds and juice) into the dressing, one at a time. Halve the tomatoes lengthwise and season with 1 1/2 tsp sea salt. Set aside until ready to serve.

To serve: When ready to serve, gently add the tomatoes, lettuce and radicchio to the salad bowl, along with a couple of generous pinches of oregano and toss to combine with dressing.  Adjust seasonings to taste, adding any reserved dressing, if needed. Serve immediately. (I assembled mine differently but it still looked pretty and tasted yumilicious!)

Enjoy and have a really happy day, everyone!!!!