Butter Lettuce, Pepper Cress, Strawberry, and Basil Salad

Here is a salad with lots of contrasts, as well as room for lots of variations. If you have cilantro instead of basil, use that. Use a dressing with lime and cumin, or coriander and Meyer lemon. See Chef’s Notes for further ideas. For the pepper cress, use a really sharp thin bladed knife to “whittle” the leaves off the stems if your cress is in a bunch.

INGREDIENTS:

1 head butter lettuce (red or green), washed, dried, and torn into bite sized pieces

2-3 cups lightly packed pepper cress, large stems removed, cleaned and dried thoroughly

4 cups strawberries, washed and dried, topped and cut into 3/8ths inch wedges

12 basil leaves, sliced into very thin chiffonade

Salt and pepper

1 cup, or as needed, of: Simple White Balsamic Vinaigrette, or Balsamic Vinaigrette, or Strawberry Vinaigrette (see website for recipes), you choice

½ cup pine nuts or roasted shelled pistachios coarsely chopped

METHOD:

In a large non-reactive bowl, add the lettuce and drizzle with just enough dressing to lightly coat the lettuce. Gently toss to coat evenly. Add half the pepper cress and gently fold in. If the salad is too dry, add a little dressing at a time to reach the desired level of dressing desired. Divide between 4 plates.

Put the strawberries into the bowl and lightly dress. Gently move around to coat them in dressing and distribute amongst the salad plates.

Scatter the basil evenly over the salads, then scatter the nuts over the salads as well. Form the remaining pepper cress into 4 mounds and center on each salad, and serve right away.

Chef’s Notes: So many variations possible with this salad. Try adding some ½ inch cubes of fresh mozzarella drizzled with a few drops of high quality aged balsamic dressing, and then dress the salad with the Simple White Balsamic vinaigrette. You could dress the strawberries with a little sugar if they are not really sweet and then hit them with a little white or regular balsamic dressing for contrast. If you have no basil but have cilantro, use Cilantro Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette, Cilantro Orange Vinaigrette, or Cilantro Dressing. Use some coriander seed powder to garnish the salad with, and use scissors to cut the cilantro leaves from stems or to slice them into strips. You could use pepitas or pine nuts for garnish, along with little bits of feta or some mozzarella.

Servers; 4

Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen