Saturday, July 31, 2010

How to Make a Great Chopped Salad

Low-Cal But Still Lovely
One of the things I have been into more and more these days are chopped salads. They are easy to eat, low in calories, and beautiful to look at. And remember the old saying “food must be a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.” So, I have started creating these elaborate salads and I have some suggestions. My favorite ingredient is grilled corn. You can do it on the grill or in a hot dry sauté pan.

To do it on the grill, clean off the husk and silk and rub it with a little olive oil salt and pepper. Grill it for about 5 minutes and turn over and cook it some more till you see blackened bits and hear some popping sound. Then bring it into the kitchen and cut the kernels off the husk and let cool.

To roast corn in a sauté pan, cut the raw corn off the husk. Then heat your non-stick sauté pan very hot and throw in the corn with a little salt and pepper and ground cumin. Shake pan so it does not stick and cook 5 minutes until it smells really good.

Okay, so now you have the corn. To this I add chopped red onion, chopped tomato, fresh cilantro, arugula, diced apple shredded carrot and jicama, red and green pepper. Then to dress I just use lime juice and rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper. If you have the points add some avocado or olives. No oil necessary. It’s delicious! Try it!