Cooking for two on a warm Spring Day, Chopped Salad

I have always had a great fondness for salads of any kind. Todd, not so much . . . he has always thought salads boring . . . that is until I came into his life!!  My salads are anything but boring!!  (Even he would agree to that!)  And, whilst salad is still not his favourite thing to eat, he quite enjoys them once he digs in.

 

When my family was growing up I used to make a variety of layered salads for them, and it is often a delicious dish to take to a pot luck supper.  Everyone usually loves them.

 

They involve layering traditional, or even the not traditional, salad ingredients in a pretty glass bowl (so that you can see the layers) and then covering the top with a type of mayonnaise frosting to seal in all the flavours.  It also helps to keep them crisp and fresh, which makes them the perfect make ahead salad.

 

I've seen them topped with all sorts of cheeses, and crisp bacon bits . . . and even crumbled tortilla chips, especially in the case of a mexican styled one.  (In that case I would layer drained mexi-corn, chopped avocado, spring onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped  ripe olives, chopped chicken etc. and top with some mayo spiked with salsa and chilies and then top with some pepper jack and the tortilla chips.  Nummy yummy!)



It's not really practical for me to make them for just Todd and myself though . . . not with only the two of us in the house . . . and not unless I am making one up for a church supper or some such.



That is until today . . . when I got the idea to tailor them down to our specific needs.  I have given amounts for one serving, but as you can see it is very easily adapted up!

 

I used my favourite creamy Italian Dressing that I make, also cut down in amounts.

 

It was delicious, delicious, delicious.  Even Todd was a happy camper.  I served them with grilled fish and potatoes.  Yummo!

 

 *Layered Chopped Salad for One*
Serves one (is easily multiplied up)
Printable Recipe
I love layered salads, but with only two of us in the house, making a large one is highly impractible.  So I adapted a few of my favourite recipes and scaled them down to one.

For the salad layers:
2 TBS thawed petit pois
2 radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 TBS chopped red onion
2 TBS chopped other vegetable (I used courgettes today, but you can use any vegetable
you want, raw or cooked)
1/2 tomato, thinly sliced
1/2 hard boiled egg, chopped
 a baby gem lettuce, shredded

For the dressing:
2 TBS no fat mayonnaise
1 tsp water
1 tsp olive oil
pinch salt
pinch black pepper
pinch onion powder
pinch garlic powder
pinch chili powder
pinch  paprika
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano

To finish:
1 TBS finely grated Pamesan Cheese
1 slice of streaky bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled

First make the dressing.  Whisk all of the ingredients together.  Taste and adjust seasoning as required.  Set aside to allow the flavours to meld.

Layer the salad ingredients in an individual serving sized ramekin, in the order given, beginning with the peas and ending with the lettuce.  (I used fluted glass dessert bowls, each holding about 1 1/2 cups)  Lightly press ingredients down to compact a tiny bit.  Spoon the dressing over top to cover.  Cover and chill until you are ready to serve, over night if possible.  Sprinkle with the Parmesan Cheese and bacon bits just prior to serving.  Delicious!