This Ultimate Chopped Salad became a staple in my diet when I moved part-time to Italy. I was trying to figure out a way to mix in a salad with my daily mealplan.

Don’t get me wrong, I love pasta and treats but too much of a good thing can be unhealthy. Most Italians don’t serve salad as a meal. It’s typically a side dish and served after the meal. In the U.S. we have plenty of salad-centric restaurants and a soup and salad or a sandwich and salad is considered a healthy and delicious meal. I don’t expect to find any salad bars around here! A U.S. supermarket will typically carry lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, and cucumbers but that’s not enough to sustain most of us as a primary meal. I decided to come up with something on my own.

For anyone who enjoys variety, I know that eating the exact same thing every day for lunch sounds awful. But women in the cast of the sitcom Friends did exactly this for a decade with one very special dish, which they nicknamed the “Jennifer Salad”.  We ate the same food: a “Jennifer Salad,” Courtney Cox explained as their daily lunch ritual for 10 years. Jennifer Aniston may not be eating salads with her castmates anymore, but the American actress changed her beloved salad recipe just a little bit. She calls it “My perfect salad – Bulgur, cucumbers, parsley, red onion, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, & pistachios,” she wrote in the accompanying caption.

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The Ultimate Chopped Salad

Course Entree

Cuisine Mediterranean

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author My Global Cuisine

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry quinoa
• 2 diced cucumbers.
• 1 15oz. can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained.
• half red onion thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley.
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh mint.
• 1/2 cup cubed feta cheese.
• 1/2 cup quartered strawberries
• DRESSING
• 1/4 cup apricot balsamic vinegar or white balsamic
• 2 tbsp juice lemon or half juiced lemon
• 1/2 tbsp honey mustard
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

• Bring 1 ¾ cup of water to a boil. Add 1 cup of quinoa. Bring to a rolling boil, stir, turn the heat down to low and cover. Cook for 15 minutes covered. Turn off heat and let sit for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, open lid and fluff with a fork. Your quinoa should have absorbed all the water, if not, return to heat for a few more minutes. Uncover the pot. Stir the quinoa. Let the quinoa cool for at least 20 minutes until it’s room temperature. Separate what you need. Refrigerate the rest.
• Make the salad dressing. In a small glass container, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, the lemon juice, mustard, sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the extra virgin olive oil and whisk until the olive oil is emulsified into the dressing. Set aside.
• Peel and slice the cucumbers, peel and thin slice the red onions, chop the parsley and the mint.
• Cut the feta cheese into cubes and cut the strawberries into quarters.
• Mix all the salad ingredients together in a large bowl.
• Separate the amount of salad you are going to serve and pour some salad dressing over it until incorporated. Taste it. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you like more dressing, add more. Otherwise reserve leftover dressing for the next salad.

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It’s January and there is one important task at hand; losing all the weight I put it on during the Holiday season. Since I hate dieting, I am finding ways to make this task a bit more enjoyable!

The idea of dieting makes me cringe because I immediately associate that with grilled tasteless foods. That is the reason I love these Salmon Tartare Cucumber Cups so much. They are very flavorful with a touch of heat and due to the omega 3’s found in salmon and the vitamins found in the cucumber, it’s a true superfood. It’s completely guilt-free and it’s just what I need while I am trying to bounce back to my pre-Holiday weight.

These Salmon Tartare Cucumber Cups are also a great appetizer to take to a party. If you are not a salmon lover you could substitute the salmon for Tuna. It will taste just as good. As a matter of fact there is also a short cut you could take here, which I have done days where I am feeling a little lazy. If you don’t feel like dealing with chopping up the salmon and the rest of the ingredients, you could fill up the cucumber cups with store bought crab spread. I have done that  before. I bought one of those crab meat mayonnaise salad and I just added it to the cucumber cups and added some chopped chives to it. The possibilities are endless.

Here are the steps to prepare the cucumber cups:

Start by cutting the salmon into small cubes. Make the dressing.

Then add the dressing and mix well. Ensure you coat the salmon, but be careful not to overdress the mixture. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Partially peel the cucumber as shown below then slice into 1″ sections.

Using a small melon scoop, remove the center of the cucumber section.

Here’s another view of the finished product served with a little sake.

I hope you enjoy these Salmon Tartare Cucumber Cups. Try them at your next social gathering, or if you are on a diet, I wish you the best of luck in achieving your weight-loss goal.

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Salmon Tartare Cucumber Cups

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Japanese

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 20

Author My Global Cuisine

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced scallions
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced shallots
• 1 pound sushi-quality salmon or tuna diced
• Tabasco sauce to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 English cucumbers cut into 3/4-inch thick, slices
• Minced chives for garnish

Instructions

• Combine all the ingredients except for the cut cucumbers. Cover salmon mixture with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Using a mellon-baller, scoop out a hollow in the center of each cucumber slice (be careful not to go all the way through the slice).
• Spoon marinated salmon onto the slices. Garnish with chives.
• Enjoy!

YOUR COMMENTS MEAN A LOT TO ME. IF YOU MADE MY RECIPES OR ARE CONSIDERING MAKING THEM, PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW. PLEASE CHOOSE A STAR RATING TOO. THANK YOU!

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Mixed Green Salads are served in the US as a side dish, appetizer or main course. With everyone watching their waistlines these days, mixed green salads are often offered as a substitution for a starchy side. In Brasil, where I come from, they serve this salad along side your entree, but instead of offering you a dressing, the provide olive oil and vinegar and leave you are in charge of dressing your salad. There are many restaurants in the United States serving ONLY salad with a choice toppings. The choices are virtually unlimited and these establishments are typically packed with patrons.

For this recipe I chose to a variety of greens and arugula with boston lettuce, cucumbers, dried cranberries and grilled goat cheese as a protein. You could also add instead crumbled blue cheese, caramelized walnuts or pistachios. You could serve this delicious Mixed Green Salad on its own or as a meal on itself. If you make it a meal, you may wish to add grilled chicken, beef or shrimp. This salad is also great to serve at dinner parties, barbecues or other gatherings.

Now, lets talk about the salad dressing. What takes a Mixed Green Salad from good to great is the dressing. I would recommend you use a high quality extra virgin olive oil and a good balsamic vinegar. Compromising on the quality of these ingredients will definitely affect the flavor of your dressing. As you will see I also add a clove of garlic to help infuse the oil with flavor.

I hope you enjoy making this Mixed Green Salad for your family and friends. Bon Appetite!

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Mixed Green Salad

Course Salad

Cuisine Nouveau American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 3 minutes minutes

Total Time 18 minutes minutes

Servings 6 to 8 servings

Author My Global Cuisine

Ingredients

• Mixed salad greens to serve 6 to 8 people
• 1 head of boston lettuce broken into pieces
• 3 small persian cucumbers peeled in stripes and sliced
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• Optional: Goat cheese
• For the salad dressing:
• 1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
• 2 TSP of good quality mustard
• 1 TSP of sugar
• 1/2 TSP of salt
• 1 large garlic clove cut in half
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

• In a small glass container, whisk together the balsamic vinegar with the mustard, the sugar, the salt and the garlic clove.
• Add the extra virgin olive oil and whisk until the olive oil is emulsified into the dressing.
• Mix the salad greens and toppings. Dress lightly being sure to discard the garlic cloves from the mixture. Add the dressing slowly. It is better to add more if needed than to leave your salad swimming in dressing. You should add just enough dress to moisten the salad. Taste your salad. Add more dressing if necessary. You may also offer your guests fresh ground pepper.
• Serve on individual plates topped with broiled goat cheese. Before broiling your cheese. Freeze it for one hour and then cut into 1.5 inch slices. Broil until the top becomes golden brown. Watch carefully to ensure your goat cheese does not burn.

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