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My Chopped Salad with Lemon Chilli Dressing is bright, fresh, and simple with a bit of a kick. It makes the perfect BBQ side or picnic salad ’cause it always pleases a crowd. Uncomplicated super-star food, bring it on!
Growing up we called this dish just Salad. We pretty much had it with every meal, using our bread to soak up the delicious juices at the bottom of the salad bowl. You see, my grandparents had a veggie patch in the backyard. They took great pride in this fertile plot of land and always had an abundance of fresh, tasty veggies to hand. I still don’t think I’ve ever eaten tomatoes as juicy and flavourful as the ones from that garden. My cousins and I have a running joke about the odd creepy-crawly sneaking into that salad bowl. Talk about organic 😉 Good times.
So you can imagine my surprise when I started hunting the web for salad inspiration. Everywhere I looked there were recipes for something called a “Chopped Salad”. Turns out, our thoroughly unsophisticated immigrant dinner staple actually had a name. So cool.
The evolution of my Chopped Salad
For a long time it didn’t even occur to me that just Salad might qualify as a blog post. But now all my grandparents have gone, and that amazing veggie garden is just a memory perhaps it’s time to share a little of their magic with you.
My Chopped Salad with Lemon Chilli Dressing is crunchy and light. Simple cooking at it’s best. I mean, anybody can make this bad boy. All you really need are super fresh ingredients and you’re good to go. What’s more, you don’t have to put chilli flakes in your dressing if heat isn’t your thing or you’re serving it to kiddies. The salad will be just as good without.
And what about you? Is there a dish from your childhood that you always took for granted? I’d love to know what you guys are cooking and what inspires you. Hit me up in the comments below or over on Instagram or Pinerest with your thoughts and suggestions. I always love to hear from you.
Chopped Salad with Lemon Chilli Dressing
Serves 4-6
a head of baby cos lettuce (washed and gently torn into bite-size pieces)
1 small green capsicum (cut into fat matchsticks)
a cup of cherry tomatoes (washed and halved)
1 small carrot (peeled and cut with a julienne tool)
1-2 baby radishes (thinly sliced)
For the Lemon Chilli dressing
1 tbs olive oil
2tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
a small clove of garlic (minced or grated)
salt (to taste)
Method:
- Start by making your dressing. Put all the ingredients for the Lemon Chilli Dressing into a small, clean glass jar, pop the lid on and shake vigorously. Set aside while you chopped/prep your salad ingredient. Make sure you give it a least 10 minutes. This will give all the flavours time to marry.
- In a large mixing bowl, put your radishes, carrot, cherry tomatoes, green capsicum and finally your cos lettuce. Drizzle the dressing over the top of the lettuce then, using your hands (fingers spread, moving like spider’s legs) mix the dressing through the salad. Don’t be shy, this really is the best way to mix dressing through salad.
- Transfer your Chopped Salad to a serving bowl. Best served directly after dressing.
