Happiness is Your First Salad Spinner

I know it sounds silly. But, I'd never had one before. And now that I do, my life is forever changed.

Spin Class (caption and photo via Sidekick)

Here's the thing. I have always loved to eat vegetables. Always. When I was a kid I routinely chose apples and berries over cake and cookies and I will always choose pickles over - well, most things. So when I say to you that I really like to eat salad, please do not gawk. Or balk. Or... ruffle. I like to eat salad as a counterpoint to something deviously rich and luscious. Like a bowl of cream-rich bisque, or a cheeseburger with pimento cheese on top, or a piece of mushroom and green chile pizza, slicked with a thin layer of orange grease that drips down your wrist while you eat it.

Dion's - Albuquerque, NM - Yeah, there's salad under that cheese and crouton pile above.

You guys, I'm still me. I just like vegetables, okay? Now, as my sidekick will attest I have an obsession that is bordering on unhinged with homemade Ranch dressing. Or, since I live in Brooklyn now, Buttermilk Dressing. And look, I'm not afraid to say it: I like iceberg lettuce. That's right. Iceberg is my lettuce of choice for slathering in creamy dressing and eating standing over my counter immediately upon returning home from work.

But, dear hearts, dousing your barely nutritional lettuce that is basically just a vehicle for water in a dressing that is basically just a vehicle for buttermilk and garlic is not what today's post is about. Today's post is about something altogether more delicate that my Sidekick and I have been shoving into our faces for the last three years straight. It's about something that requires your lettuce to be absolutely dry in order for the dressing to stick.

Avocado + Arugula + Parmesan + Lemon + Olive Oil + S&P = GOLD.

Seriously. That's all. Sometimes I'll add some hearts of palm. Sometimes some segmented grapefruit if I have one kicking around. Lately I've been adding fennel that I've pickled in orange juice. This salad is a platform of greatness and it takes all of ten minutes.

Spin Sass (also via Sidekick)

FIVE if you have a salad spinner. Seriously, this is not a recipe. This is throwing ingredients on a plate that become better than the sum of their parts. Salad Spinners 4Ever.

Arugula and Avocado Salad with Lemon Oil and Parmesan

3 - 4 large handfuls arugula, washed and SPUN (oh, or dried on kitchen towels, LOSER)
1 avocado, diced
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup Parmesan, shaved with a vegetable peeler
olive oil
sea salt
black pepper

Spread arugula out on a large platter. Scatter avocado on top (and any other CRAZY ingredient you choose, but don't muck it up too much, simplicity is why this tastes so good). Add on Parmesan curls after that. Squeeze lemon juice over the whole thing. You might only want half. You might want 1.5 (I want more lemon on everything, have I mentioned?). Then, sprinkle the whole shabang with flaky sea salt, grind a MESS of pepper over it all and drizzle with enough olive oil to make it look dressed lightly.

Share. Be nice.