Green plate

In

my salad days I used to hate many green veggies and I remember when maa

used to scold me for the same. Somehow I didn’t had taste for them at

that point of time but gradually I developed the taste so much so that I

can now survive happily on those green things (cow-food).

From long time Santanu wanted to make a change on our meal as it seems

we both are putting on weight. As I said in my [earlier

post](http://blog.santm.com/2006/07/26/yum/) that he tries to encroach

that small part of the house mostly in weekends so he made sure atleast

2 days in week we have salad in

our main course meal.

Having salad has got few plus points like less time consuming to

prepare, don’t heat up a hot kitchen, very healthy especially in this

hot Paris summer…..which means salad season. Besides **watermelon or

strawberry smoothie**, salad is the perfect summer food. They’re light,

crisp and refreshing— especially when paired with a dressing and

they’re versatile with one’s imagination can invent.

At the core of most summer salads is lettuce. It was viewed for years as

a tasteless part of a salad that used to be covered up with a thick,

sticky dressing. But what a metamorphosis lettuce has seen in the last

10-15 years. Interestingly, new lettuces with various shapes, sizes,

colours and flavours have started replacing the ubiquitous iceberg

lettuce in supermarkets. The assortment of gourmet lettuces available to

the consumer is getting better all the time.

So we had this lettuce leaves with deseeded olives, cherry tomatoes &

cheese which was enrobed with a salad dressing of balsamic vinegar,

olive oil and few drops of lemon juice. At end drizzle it with salt and

whisk together in a large shallow bowl. One can serve in small portions

as an accompaniment to roast chicken, or grilled or poached fish. This

dressing is actually to highlight not to overpower the salad

ingredients. Too much salad dressing will weigh down the salad

ingredients and mask their flavors. So…

Bon Appetite bien sur !!!