This is virtually free, since what you're doing is using the odds and ends you have left over in the fridge to make the salad. You may have to buy some lettuce (you know you want the vegetarian starter kit, right?). Or maybe you have some, or some spinach, or something leafy and green? That's where you start.
Chuck can make two meals: this, and a pasta dish he calls carbonara, but it's really just pasta with olives and turkey bacon. It's really good, equally as good as his salad. He tells me that most of his cooking life was spent microwaving fish sticks or eating processed cheese on tortillas (microwaved). There's a good story about a last minute Thanksgiving he and his brother Bob ended up eating at 3am the morning after Thanksgiving. I've seen him make Bisquick pancakes -- and they're also good. But yeah. Now that we live together, mostly I cook.
Here, however, is his "famous" salad. Salad, in this part of the world, is best in fall and spring, when lettuce is fresh and local.
This one he made for dinner, and the way he makes them, they are a dinner.
What you'll need:
Green leafy substance (this is romaine, but any lettuce or non-cooking greens will do)
some fruit (here he's got apples, tangerines, dates, and raisins)
some vegetables (carrots, tomatoes, scallions, green peppers)
some nuts (here, pecans [how to say it like a native] and walnuts)
some salty stuff (like pickles, olives, capers)
some cheese and whatever else you have a spoonful or two of left in the fridge
Some spices (here, dill, cilantro, red pepper and black pepper)
What you do:
Wash what needs washing. Cut up what needs cutting up into bite-sized pieces.
Tear the lettuce into bite-sized pieces.
Put this in the bottom of a big bowl.
But the other bite-sized stuff on top.
Shake on some Parmesan or other cheese.
Toss and serve.
We eat this without dressing, but for guests we have some bottled stuff, or I drizzle on a little mustard mixed with honey and olive oil, or some Good Seasons Italian.
There you go.
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