Sweet and Simple

 

I have been enjoying a number of delicious salads recently, all of them centered on a fantastic foursome of summery ingredients.  It started off as an appetizer: arugula tossed in a lemon vinaigrette, with creamy avocado, perfectly-ripe summer strawberries, and fresh mozzarella, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper.

You don't need to do anything complicated to treat your senses.

But then I couldn't help myself.  The next day I took the same four ingredients and added chopped cabbage and lettuce, thinly-sliced celery, and fresh corn shaved from the cob.  That was pretty good too.  What a salad!


Lemon Vinaigrette

1/4 cup lemon juice (or more, to taste)
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. superfine sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, finely grated
1 Tbs. water
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Place all ingredients in a glass jar and seal shut.  Shake well until emulsified.  Store refrigerated up to 1 week.


Recommended Salad Ingredients
arugula
cabbage
Romaine and red-leaf lettuce
celery, thinly sliced
fresh corn, shaved from the cob (raw)
sliced strawberries
avocado, large dice
fresh mozarella, cubed