Salad Days

All of this gorgeous spring weather has me thinking about grilling. The smell of seared meat wafting through the neighborhood every evening does too, but that’s another story.

I wondered this morning if I could combine my desire for fire with my love of salads. Turns out you can - quite successfully in fact! Inspired by a recipe at fatfreevegan, I fired up the grill today and made my very own Grilled Romaine Salad for lunch. Hitting the lettuce with some heat tempers its slightly bitter flavor and brings out a bit of nuttiness. Ohhh, yum!

Grilled Romaine Lettuce
Serves 4

2 hearts of romaine
balsamic vinegar
sunflower seeds or chopped almonds
freshly cracked pepper

Cut the romaine hearts in half lengthwise. Trim the stem end a little if you want, but be sure not to cut too much. All the leaves need to stay attached.

Heat your BBQ and coat the grill with a little oil. (A paper towel dipped in oil works well. Use a pair of tongs to rub the oil-soaked paper towel on the grill.) You could also use a stove-top grill pan or George Foreman style grill if the weather isn’t good enough for BBQing.

Once the BBQ is hot, put the romaine hearts on it. Grill for about 2 or 3 minutes, until lettuce has begun to wilt and grill marks to appear; then turn over and grill for another 2 minutes.

Place each piece on a plate, cut side up, and sprinkle each with a bit of vinegar, sunflower seeds, and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Nutritional wisdom:

Lettuce, among other things, is excellent source of zinc. New findings in the journal Diabetes Care claim increased intake of zinc may lower diabetes risk in women. Researchers studied 82,297 women and during the course of 24 years more than 6,000 cases of type-2 diabetes were documented and data obtained from a food questionnaire showed women with the highest average dietary intake of zinc cut diabetes risk by 10% and 8% for those with highest average total intake of zinc.

Zinc is important for guys too. Previous studies show low levels of zinc contribute to cancer, cardiovascular and all-cause mortality risk in middle-aged men. Eek!

Other sources of zinc include peas, sesame seeds, asparagus, and other green veggies, like broccoli and kale.

Image courtesy of fodista.

Today’s salad is a mixture of greens, red grapes, and walnuts topped with an ultra-fresh-tasting avocado-pear-cucumber dressing. (The dressing is based on one published on DrFuhrman.com, but tweaked to my liking.)

I love this dressing for two reasons. First, the only fat in it comes from an avocado. Many people perceive avocados as a high-fat, high-calorie food that should be avoided or consumed in only token amounts. Fats from avocado, raw nuts, and seeds, however, are rich in antioxidants and phytochemicals that not only offer unique health benefits, but also maintain the freshness of the food, preventing rancidity of the fat within. Oh-la-la!

The second reason I love this dressing is that there’s no way to “over dress” your salad. The dressing tastes so fresh and delicious you’ll want to eat it straight with a spoon! (Just ask my husband: after scooping some dressing into a container for my lunchtime salad this morning, I ate a spoonful right from the jar. Nick, a salad-dressing minimalist, even likes gobs of this over his greens.)

Bon appetite!

Avocado Goddess Dressing
Yield: 2 cups

1/2 pear, cored & cut in small pieces
1 pickle size cucumber (4-6” long), peeled & cut up
1/2 ripe avocado
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp no-salt seasoning
1 tbsp fresh dill
1 tbsp fresh cilantro

Put all of the ingredients except fresh herbs in a high-power blender and blend until creamy. Add the herbs and pulse a few times until there are little green specks throughout the dressing. Pour generously over your salad.

Image courtesy of Gaetan Lee.