My Vegetable Blog

In the world of salads, the chopped salad is one of the more labor-intensive varieties. The ingredients are usually simple enough, most if not all of them raw. But as the name suggests, it requires spending some quality time with your knife. Do it right, though, and the payoff is big. 

Something happens when you break a bunch of vegetables down into similarly sized pieces and mix in a few other carefully selected ingredients. They become – trite as it may sound – more than the sum of their parts.

This particular chopped salad is all about spring. It's got seasonal standbys: fennel (chopped up from bulb to fronds), asparagus, radishes, spinach, mint and lemon. And some special add-ins: Castelvetrano olives, chunks of Grana Padano cheese and pink peppercorns. These three are good party guests – they're not too loud or brash, and they bring something interesting to the conversation.

Castelvetrano olives are bright green in color, but their flavor is mild and buttery. They've become quite popular, and if your grocery store has an olive bar, you can probably find them there. Grana Padano cheese is a softer, milder and cheaper alternative to Parmesan. Pink peppercorns, which aren't really peppers at all, bring a sweet and subtle peppery flavor, and a nice burst of color.

But enough swooning over ingredients – let's get chopping! 

Spring Vegetable Chopped Salad

serves 2-4

• 1 fennel bulb, with fronds 
• 8-12 asparagus spears
• 2-4 radishes
• 2 cups baby spinach
• small handful of mint leaves
• 2 ounces Grana Padano cheese, or Parmesan
• 10 Castelvetrano olives
• 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon pink peppercorns

* Obviously, there's a lot of chopping involved here. Try to cut the vegetables into pieces about a half-inch in size. 

Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. This will be used to blanch the asparagus. If you prefer to leave it raw, just skip this step.

Wash the asparagus well and peel the bottom half of the spears to remove the tough skin. If the spears are thick, slice them in half lengthwise before chopping. Set aside and prepare an ice bath. When the water comes to a boil, add a good pinch of salt and blanch the asparagus for about 30 seconds. Drain and place immediately in the ice bath. Drain and set aside to dry.

Remove the stems from the fennel bulb and set aside. Cut the bulb in half and remove the core from one of the halves. Slice lengthwise and then chop into half-inch pieces. If it's a large bulb, save the other half for another recipe. If it's small, go ahead and chop it up. Chop the stems and fronds.

Chop the radishes and spinach. Finely chop the mint leaves. Chop the olives, getting as much of the flesh away from the seed as possible. Crumble or chop the cheese into pieces. (Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop.)

In a bowl, combine the asparagus, fennel, radishes, spinach, mint and olives. Zest the lemon into the bowl, then cut it in half and add the juice from one of the halves. Add the oil, salt and black pepper, and toss well. Just before serving, top with cheese and pink peppercorns. 

Enjoy.