Salad with Parmesan and Balsamic

I don't think I've ever bought a bottle of salad dressing. When I was a student I was too cheap to spend the extra money when I could just toss olive oil and vinegar on a salad. Then I started looking at the ingredients and realized a whole lot of stabilizers and emulsifiers are needed to make commercial salad dressing. So I continue to make my own.

I always have a bottle of my homemade honey-balsamic dressing in the fridge. Larry likes it on the salads he takes for lunch. (He carries a little in a small container and adds it to his salad when he's ready to eat.)

For my favorite simple side salad I make the dressing right on the salad. The balsamic and parmesan make it great with Italian food, and I served it the other night with the Whole Wheat Linguine with Broccoli and Chickpeas. It was a great match.

I used red butter lettuce because it has extra carotenoids from the red pigments. However, when coated with balsamic vinegar, it looks a little brown at the edges in low light. That's okay, it tastes great.

Here is the beyond-easy recipe, no emulsifiers or stabilizers required.

Salad with Parmesan and Balsamic
Butter lettuce for 2 people
wedge of parmesan cheese
1/2 tbsp balsamic
1 tbsp olive oil

Wash the lettuce and dry it completely. Tear it into a bowl. Use a vegetable peeler to sliver 3-4 thin pieces of parmesan onto the lettuce. Sprinkle the vinegar over the lettuce along with a dash of salt. Toss well. Drizzle the olive oil over the salad and toss again.

Serves immediately.

Serves 2