Leaf Lettuces with Sherry-Orange Vinaigrette

A drive down the Pacific Coast Highway confirms California’s distinctive placement in the American legend. San Francisco, San Diego, Long Beach and numerous others along the way began as ports of call from Asia, funneling culture eastward just as surely as New England and the Middle Atlantic sent it west from Europe. Then as now, the journey to or from the west is one of travel across latitudes, but the PCH travels longitudinally from sunny southern California to the pacific northwest of the Oregon border. The haunting steel grey expanse of the Pacific ocean drones along one side of the road, ghostly oil platforms barely visible on the horizon, the occasional steamship looming ominously large and frighteningly close. Legendary beaches of glassine sand are guarded by outcroppings of jagged rocks, the sky punctuated by the cries of soaring gulls and the shoreline perforated by the clawprints of foraging sandpipers.

Vast green fields unroll on the other side of the highway, as infinite to the horizon as the ocean is on the opposite side of the road. Rows of strawberry vines unfurl infinite sweetness in the sunshine, while those world famous grapes (berries, to oenophiles) take their own structured time. As we read earlier this spring, California is a leading producer of citrus, but it also leads in the production of numerous other crops from pears to watermelons, from broccoli to olives. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, over 40% of California land is devoted to working farms and other harvest areas, accounting for almost 50% of the fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts that appear on the American table.

California is known as America's salad bowl, for California is a leading producer of the nation’s lettuces. That is as good a reason as any why salad is a keystone dish in California cooking. This cooking is characterized by light fresh flavors and, most importantly, the vibrancy and abundance of locally available ingredients. From San Francisco seafood to Napa wine, from Gaviota strawberries to the Los Angeles taco truck, California cooking is about the joy of local abundance. What better vessel for that abundance than the salad bowl? Greens are simple and good; they make you feel sunny inside and out. Lettuces – the fresher the better – tumble with the best of the day’s fresh vegetables and lounge in the luxury of homemade dressing. Salad asserts its own vibrant nature right from the bowl. If that’s not the essence of California sunshine, I don’t know what is.

Below is an original recipe for leaf lettuces dressed in a simple, sumptuous sherry-orange vinaigrette. It is simple to prepare and delicious to eat. It is versatile enough to serve with sandwiches for lunch or with sautéed chicken, last month’s pork chops, or steaks from the grill for dinner. Make your salad using the best, freshest ingredients. Grow your own if you wish but if not, it’s okay – whether you obtain your fresh vegetables from the supermarket or the farmer’s market, there is a good chance they came from America’s saladbowl.

LEAF LETTUCES WITH SHERRY-ORANGE VINAIGRETTE

Many of the items in the recent column about kitchen tools will help with making salad, including the salad spinner, dressing emuslifier, tomato knife, cutting board and, if you press your own orange juice, citrus press.

For the vinaigrette

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 shallot

1 bunch fresh thyme

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4- 1/3  cup extra virgin olive oil 

For the salad

1 bunch red leaf lettuce

1 bunch green leaf lettuce

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 red onion 

Make the vinaigrette

1. Remove the root and stem ends of the shallot; remove the papery outer skin. Halve the shallot from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into crescents and then cut across the crescents to form tiny dice.
2. Scrape the minced shallot into the salad bowl. Add a pinch of salt and several grindings of fresh black pepper.
3. Measure the vinegar into the bowl containing the salted shallot. Swirl the ingredients together.

4. Hold several stalks thyme over the bowl containing the vinegar and shallots. Strip the thyme into the bowl by running your fingers down the stalk of the herb in the opposite direction of the growth of the leaves. Set the remaining thyme aside for another usage (to learn how to store fresh woody herbs, click here).

5. Set the bowl aside so that the shallots can soften while the herbs infuse the vinegar, a minimum of 10 minutes.

6. Before serving, measure the orange juice into the vinegar mixture. Use a small whisk or an emulsifier to blend until smooth.

7. Measure the olive oil into a cup or small spouted bowl. Hold the cup/bowl high over the bowl containing the vinegar mixture. Use one hand to pour the olive oil into the vinegar mixture while using the other hand to whisk the oil into the vinegar mixture, until a smooth emulsion forms. 

Prepare the salad

1. Place a drop of vegetable cleaner into a small bowl. Fill the bowl ½ with cool water. Remove caps if any from the cherry tomatoes. Place the tomatoes into the bowl. Swirl the tomatoes in the cleaning water then drain the tomatoes into a colander. Rinse the tomatoes under cool water. Set the tomatoes aside to drain while you prepare the lettuces and onion.

2. Pull the outer leaves from the lettuces. Tear larger leaves into smaller pieces. Place lettuce into a colander or the reservoir of a salad spinner. Pull the soft inner leaves from between the ribs of the lettuce, taking care to avoid the ribs and stopping when you reach the harder inner core. Place in the colander/salad spinner with the outer leaves. Rinse with cool water.

3..Toss or spin the lettuce free of excess water. Set aside to dry while you prepare the remaining vegetables.

4. Peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into crescents.

5. Give the tomatoes a toss in the colander to shake off any excess water. Working quickly, use a sharp knife to cut each cherry tomato in half. 

Assemble the salad

1. After mixing the dressing, add a handful of greens, a sprinkling of onion and a handful of tomatoes to the bowl. Continue building the salad, alternating the ingredients, until you have used all of the vegetables.

2. Use salad servers to toss the salad, bringing up from the bottom to coat the salad with the dressing.

3. Serve immediately.