Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Do you remember the Big Salad episode on Seinfeld? Elaine asks George to pick up a Big Salad for her when he goes to lunch at the coffee shop with his friend, Julie. George buys the salad but Julie gives it to Elaine, thus passively taking credit for the purchase. Typically, George goes completely insane. (Incidentally, the Julie character is the same actress that plays Maryann on True Blood!) Anyway, I am as much a fan of the Big Salad as Elaine, but not many places make them well. I find that they don't have enough stuff in them and are mostly a big pile of bland lettuce masquerading as a big salad.

I was originally thinking of creating a new salad to complete the week o' salads, but then realized that I had a ton of crap in my fridge that I had to get rid of before making or buying anything new. Enter: my Kitchen Sink Chopped Salad. The KSCS totally qualifies as a Big Salad. After chopping up all of the different ingredients, you'll need a big bowl!



The easiest way to throw this together is to first make the dressing in a medium/big mixing bowl, and then start adding your favorite ingredients from there. I used a few leafs (only a few) of romaine leftover from my Tofu Caesar; grape tomatoes, feta, and cucumbers leftover from my Greek Salad; beets leftover from my Beet Salad; and hearts of palm, chickpeas, and sliced almonds that were just hanging around. But use whatever you like!



Tina's Kitchen Sink Chopped Salad

3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 garlic clove, minced
3 small leafs of romaine, chopped
1/3 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1/3 cup chopped beets
1/3 cup chopped hearts of palm
1/3 cup chopped cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/4 cup chickpeas
1/4 cup crumbled feta
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, mustard and garlic.

2. Add the romaine, tomatoes, beets, hearts of palm, cucumber, chickpeas, and feta to the bowl and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Plate the salad and sprinkle the almonds on top. Serves 1.