Chopped Salad with Tarragon-Buttermilk Dressing
A chopped salad is simply a bunch of vegetables, greens, and other ingredients cut into uniform pieces and tossed in a big bowl with dressing. This easy formula is an ideal solution for using up leftovers. Here the recipe features vegetables and nuts, but you could add cheese, salami or shredded rotisserie chicken for a heartier salad.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbs. minced garlic
- 2 Tbs. minced shallot
- 5 Tbs. (3 oz./80 g) sour cream
- 1/4 cup (2 fl. oz./60 ml) buttermilk
- 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp. chopped fresh tarragon
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 1/2 cups (9 oz./280 g) cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup (5 oz./155 g) hazelnuts, toasted
- 1 heart of romaine lettuce, cored and chopped
- 1 small head radicchio, cored and chopped
- 1 small cucumber, peeled and chopped
- 8 radishes, chopped
Directions
To make the dressing, in a bowl, combine the garlic, shallot, sour cream, buttermilk, lemon juice, tarragon, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper and whisk to blend well. Set aside.
Quarter the tomatoes and coarsely chop the hazelnuts. In a large salad bowl, combine the lettuce, radicchio, cucumber, radishes, tomatoes and hazelnuts and toss to mix. Pour in the dressing and toss to coat all the ingredients well. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately. Serves 6.
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Pizza Night, by Kate McMillan (Weldon Owen, 2014)