I only ate one slice of the pizza that this salad was supposed to ‘go with’.
It came about because George requested caesar salad, but we had no bread to make croutons…so Ed improvised with small cubes of potato and chorizo.
It’s the sort of thing that we normally eat without mentioning or even photographing. But Tim Hayward’s article ‘Begone, Salad Days‘ in the FT, tweeted to the nation with an emphatic “Crisp Green Salad? My arse!” made me realise that perhaps we do forget that salad can be good.
The proliferation of leaves available in the shops that have not even seen soil can lead to laziness. Tipping a pile of tasteless leaves onto a plate will just not do. It can also lead to a the slightly warped logic that I have been known to use: ‘Well, we had a zero calorie salad for dinner therefore I am still hungry and can now have a massive slice of cheesecake for dessert.’
This salad was so good that next time I’ll not even bother with the pizza.
Sometimes it’s all about the sides.
Potato and Chorizo Caesar Salad
Gently fry some good quality chorizo, the sort that yields a red paprika rich oil. Next add tiny cubes of potato, to soak up the tasty oil. When these have started to soften toss in some sliced spring onion and garlic. Dry off the croutons on plenty of kitchen roll.
Toss some chopped little gem or cos lettuce in a little caesar salad dressing then sprinkle in a handful of parmesan and the cubes of golden tastiness.
