The Little Green Salad
This simple green side salad is made with Parmesan and toasted nuts, tossed in lemon dressing. It’s wonderful in its simplest form, but you can add my suggested seasonal variations or put your own spin on it. Recipe yields 6 to 8 side salads.
Ingredients
Salad
- 5 ounces arugula or leafy greens
- ½ cup small nuts or seeds (pine nuts, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds or chopped pecans)
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan, or crumbled goat cheese or feta
Lemon dressing
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ½ tablespoon honey or maple syrup, to taste
- 1 medium clove garlic, pressed or minced
- ⅛ teaspoon fine salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Suggested variations
- Sliced cherry tomatoes, avocado and sunflower seeds
- Thinly sliced cucumbers, radishes and almonds
- Thinly sliced fennel and pine nuts
- Raspberries, blackberries, or sliced strawberries and almonds
- Thinly sliced apple or pear, dried cranberries and toasted chopped pecans
Instructions
- To toast the nuts or seeds, cook them in a medium skillet over medium-low heat, stirring often, until they’re fragrant and starting to turn golden, about 3 to 5 minutes. Set them aside to cool.
- To make the dressing, combine all of the ingredients and whisk until blended. Season generously with black pepper and adjust to taste by adding more honey if the dressing tastes too tart.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the greens, nuts and cheese. Add most of the dressing and toss until the salad is lightly coated throughout (you might have some leftover dressing). If desired, toss in the suggested add-ins. Serve promptly. Leftover salad dressing will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.
Notes
Make it nut free: Use sunflower seeds or pepitas (green pumpkin seeds) instead of nuts.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Omit the cheese. You might like a sprinkle of vegan Parmesan instead, although it’s good without. To make it vegan, use maple syrup instead of honey.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.