Ham, Asparagus and Mozzarella Salad; it’s organic! Recipe
A cold salad can be just the thing for a hot summer evening.
The eggs are hard-boiled and the asparagus blanched. As to the rest, it’s just a matter of assembling and serving.
The small mozzarella balls are great for tossing with a salad; if you can’t find them, just roughly chop half of a larger, whole mozzarella.
Serve some crusty, country bread on the side, if you like.
Ham, Asparagus and Mozzarella Salad
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 8oz (240gr) ham, cut into cubes
- 8oz (240gr) asparagus, cut into 1″ (2.5cm) lengths
- 10 – 12 small mozzarella balls, cut in half
- 1 – 2 ripe tomatoes, cut into large chunks
- 2 eggs, hard-boiled, roughly chopped
- enough lettuce for 2 main dish salads
- Creamy Dill Dressing:
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tbs good olive oil
- 2 tbs white Balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp Dijon-style mustard
- 2 tsp fresh dill weed, chopped
- 2 tsp fresh chives, chopped
Instructions:
Blanche asparagus for 3 minutes in rapidly boiling water. Refresh in cold water and allow to dry.
Prepare lettuce, tear and put into a large salad bowl.
Make dressing: combine all ingredients and whisk well
Add half the dressing to lettuce and toss well with tongs to combine.
Taste, adjust.
Add remaining ingredients, toss to combine, taste and add more dressing as desired.
Serve, extra dressing on the side.
I had every intention of spending hours writing another witty and entertaining post.
Really, I did.
And I talked to my sister in the U.S. (always important, and not often enough).
I was just getting back to it when my computer mysteriously crashed.
Then the WiFi quit working and had to be attended to (it’s fixed)
I noticed that the sun was setting so I ran out to pick the lettuce for dinner.
There was a fine mist outside so I grabbed a jacket.
I should have grabbed a trowel…..
The lettuce was full of huge slugs. Apparently they liked the nice, soft mist.
I didn’t notice right off.
Until I touched one.
Might I just say “EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW”
I always take a cutters with me when I pick lettuce, to trim and cut off the root ends to leave in the compost.
No, I didn’t cut the slugs – how could you think that? That would be just, just, just….. Icky!
I knocked them off the lettuce, picked them up on the flat blade and tossed them into the sunflower field.
Yes, it took rather a lot longer than if I had just picked them off but my method didn’t actually involve any finger-to-slug contact.
I also could have gone back to the house to get the person in charge of creepy-crawlies but that would have involved an argument discussion on the definition of creepy-crawly. I think slugs qualify, but the argument could be made that they are slitherers….. (spell check didn’t like that) rather than crawlers.
Regardless, I manged to get all the lettuce for dinner. When I went to the compost to do the trimming I noticed that the compost pile was covered in snails. I decided that was acceptable.
I also decided that I don’t think I will ever be as enthusiastic over escargot again.
Now I have to make dinner.
And have a glass of wine.
Before I wash the lettuce – in case I missed any creepy-slitherers I need fortification.
You do know that if you find slugs in the lettuce it’s organic, right?
You’ll just have to wait for the witty and entertaining post.
Last Updated on July 3, 2013