Lettuces With Fresh Herbs and Cheese
This green salad, on the menu at Oma Grassa, a pizza restaurant in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, is sprightly but deeply savory, with a shower of cheese curls on top. (A grater with wide holes works best here for dramatic shavings.) If the soft bed of cheese is the protagonist, then the fresh herbs are the supporting characters that give this salad verve. Use tarragon if you have it and love it, but basil works, too. There is no dressing to make — just toss oil and vinegar through the greens. The significantly higher ratio of vinegar to oil here means the lettuces stay peppy and crunchy. Don’t forget to season the leaves with salt: It’s the secret to many restaurant salads.
- Preparation:
- Cooking:
- Total:
- Serves: 2 persons
Ingredients
- 1tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2tablespoons white wine vinegar (see Tip), plus more to taste
- 1small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced
- Salt
- 6to 8 ounces lettuce, any mix of crunchy greens and chicories (about 8 loosely packed cups)
- 1tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves or chopped basil
- 1teaspoon chopped chives (optional)
- 1to 2 ounces Piave or Gruyère, for grating
Instructions
Step 1
To a large salad bowl, add the oil, vinegar and fennel. Season generously with salt, then toss.Step 2
Wash, dry and refrigerate the lettuce until ready to eat, up to 30 minutes, or use right away: Add the lettuce to the bowl with the fennel, then toss. Taste the lettuce for seasoning. It should be assertively tangy and salty because the cheese will mute the flavors a little. Add more salt and vinegar, if needed.Step 3
Divide the salad among plates, then sprinkle over the tarragon and chives if using. Using the large holes of a grater, generously grate the cheese all over the salad so there’s a thin carpet of it. Serve immediately.