With the Texas heat upon us, light and refreshing foods are what most of us crave. Paul Martin’s American Grill in Turtle Creek Village has a salad that will satisfy your hunger for something fresh and leave you ready take on whatever your day or night has to offer. Their Butter Lettuce Salad is the perfect combination of savory, from the arugula and blue cheese, and sweet, from the candied nuts and cider-maple vinaigrette dressing.
One of the things I love about this salad is that the dressing is easy to make from scratch with ingredients you can find at any local grocer. Purchasing quality lettuce is another key to making at-home salads shine. I used to think that lettuce was just lettuce, but boy was I wrong. Way wrong. For this salad, I used the Living Lettuce from Kroger. It is sold with the roots still intact for maximum freshness. And again, I would have thought this was a gimmick but it actually makes a huge difference. From start to finish, the Butter Lettuce Salad takes about 10 minutes to prepare. Enjoy.
Dish Pirate: Butter Lettuce Salad
Inspired by Corporate Executive Chef Russell Skall of Paul Martin’s American Grill
Recipe (1 salad)
Ingredients:
Salad
2 cups butter lettuce leaves, washed and cut into medium sized pieces
1/4 cup wild arugula
5-6 slices of Fuji apple, no core, no skin, sliced 1/8 inch thick (approx half of a small Fuji apple)
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup candied walnuts or pecans (chopped)
Cider Maple Vinaigrette dressing (recipe below)
salt and pepper
Cider Maple Vinaigrette dressing
*This will yield enough dressing for 6-8 salads and can be refrigerated for up to 7 days.
3 Tbsp finely diced shallots
1 tsp Kosher salt
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups olive oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
Preparation:
1. Prepare vinaigrette dressing by combining all ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside to marinate for at least 2 minutes. May need a quick whisk before adding to salad.
2. In a mixing bowl, toss butter lettuce and arugula with 3-5 Tbsp of maple cider vinaigrette. Adjust dressing amount to your liking.
3. Lay dressed lettuce on a serving plate and top with apples, blue cheese crumbles, chopped nuts, salt and pepper.
This salad is delightful on it’s own but can easily be paired with a grilled protein of your choice.
