Super salad for dinner.
Some years ago when I was still living in Venezuela, I used to work as a waiter in an Italian restaurant called “La Locanda''. Locanda is the name of some contemporary coffee houses that were popular for some decades. I don’t remember quite exactly if it was in the ’80s, the ’90s, or the early 2000s. I knew the story because we were taught to learn about the meaning of the word and try to explain it to those who were not familiar with Italian culture or cuisine.
Now I look back and I think that despise the restaurant was kinda messy, old, and it wasn’t at its old glory, it has its charm, and I think that working there I got to know a lot of nice people who were workmates at the time and many of them I count amongst my friends even today.
I think I loved that job, and being there as waiter one gets to walk all the time to the kitchen, from where you have to pick up the dishes that you are going to serve on the tables, and to watch the chefs work, it is very enlightening because that is a wonderful way to learn techniques and ways of cooking that you haven’t imagined or learned before. Being there, I learned a lot about restaurants, food, cooking all dishes in general, baking, processing food, and others.
One day I was working there and the chef woman who was in charge of the “pantry” station of the restaurant, couldn’t make it to one shift, and several other employees didn’t show up also, so it was all chaos and a lot of clients were asking the dishes that this missing pantry chef had to make, like salads, desserts, and aperitives. The manager was running from one side to another, and asking who knew how to make the same dishes that the pantry chef used to make, so everybody took a step back, and mostly all the waiters because they knew exactly what that meant, the restaurant needed someone preparing salads and desserts and aperitives on that shift and that meant working inside the kitchen for a night and giving up the fresh air and all the tips outside with the clients.
I volunteered to work in the pantry station, and after putting the apron of a cook, I started to improvise, and with the help of the other cooks and chefs, the baker of the pizzas, and even the girl who processed the raw food, I prepared A LOT of desserts, aperitives, and salads that night.
That is when I learned how to make this salad. Made with fresh lettuce, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes, with some sauteed eggplant, and a honey-mustard dressing, it was the favorite of the people to accompany every dish, from a steak to some chicken, or whichever other dish on the menu. It was used as an appetizer also, or even as the side of people eating pizzas.
It tastes great, it is refreshing, sweet, and healthy. Composed with ingredients that are mostly water, it gives a sensation of fullness, for its light, low calorie, and is great for the summer or when it is hot outside. Now finally I tell you how I did it.
I washed all the vegetables with water and some drops of vinegar, and then I started to get dry the lettuce with paper, and after cutting it I placed it inside a bowl,. I cut the tomatoes into tiny slices, and also the cucumber.
After peeling the skin of the eggplant and making a transversal cut in half, I sliced both parts into small rectangles. I put a pan on high flame and once it was very hot, I added some drops of olive oil, and I put the slices of eggplant to saute, turning them from side every minute or so until they were looking well cooked from both sides.
The dressing I made was using a bit of mustard, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, one tablespoon of lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and two tablespoons of honey.
This was the result of my beautiful and fresh salad, which I will eat as my dinner for tonight. Plantbased. It could be considered vegan if you consume honey and mustard as vegan, if not, no problem, just find another nice dressing that is suitable for you. Also, some variations of this salad could be adding apple to it, or peach, or mango, something sweet, or if you are a fanatic of the salty ingredients you could add some corn, some vegan or another type of cheese, in case you’re not a vegan you could use goat cheese, greek yogurt, or whatever you can think of. What will you change or add? comment me below.
I hope you liked it, and if you just got here by reading my post I thank you so much for taking the time, and I hope you continue to have a wonderful day.
Regards to all!
César.