Best BLT Salad On Earth

I discovered an amazing take on the classic BLT ... to make it compliant, use chemical-free prosciutto and this wonderful dump ranch recipe that I slightly adapted from another recipe I found online.  Super props to the Whole Sisters - this was amazing.

Salad for two:
• Head of romaine, washed, dried, & cut or torn into bite size pieces
• Tomatoes of your choice - grape, heirloom, cherry, whatever floats your boat
• ~1.4 lb. prosciutto, sliced bacon-thick, fried up, and crumbled

Dressing:

• 1 egg (room temperature is best)

• 1 cup light tasting olive oil

• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon pepper

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk

• 1 handful of cilantro - fresh is best, but dried works just fine too

• 1 handful of parsley - fresh is best, but dried works just fine too

• Dill optional (or any other herbs of choice) - fresh is best, but dried works just fine too

Instructions:

Put all of the dressing ingredients except the oil into a tall container and blend using your immersion blender (or your "whizzy thingy" as I've seen it called).  Slowly pour it in while blending to emulsify it.  Try not to eat the whole thing at one sitting ;)  It's super for dipping raw vegetables in.

Caprice on a Stick

Everything's better on a stick, right?  This one is blessfully easy and really requires no time or cooking skills.  Easy peasy lemon squeezie - and always a hit.

You'll notice no quantities on the ingredient list ... just buy enough to serve the crowd you're feeding.

Ingredients:

• Grape tomatoes, washed & dried
• Fresh basil leaves
• Small fresh mozzarella balls
• Fresh ground pepper
• Light olive oil
• Aged Balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. Skewer a tomato, a folded basil leaf, and a mozarella ball on a toothpick.
2. Arrange on the serving platter, then from a high vantage point, grind a light sprinkle of pepper.
3. Lightly drizzle olive oil on top of the skewers.
4. Serve with a side of balsamic vinegar in a dish for dipping.

Mediterranean Salsa

Source:  Allen Nudèl’s friend Susie Dillard.  I don't know who Susie is or was, but Allen was a classmate of mine in Grad School at UC Berkeley.  This salsa is seriously incredible - and a nice deviation from your traditional Latin salsas.  

To use it with the context of a Whole 30, you could probably put it on top of a fish ... sounds pretty good now that I think about it!

Ingredients:

6 oz. Jar marinated artichoke hearts

3 fresh vine ripened tomatoes

1 lg. clove minced garlic

¼ C. chopped black olives

¼ C. fresh chopped basil

salt/pepper

Tortilla chips (Tostitos scoops are best)

Directions:

Drain and chop artichoke hearts.  Chop tomatoes.  Combine artichokes, tomatoes, garlic, olives, basil, salt, and pepper in a bowl.  Serve with chips. 

           

NOTE:  The longer this is allowed to sit refrigerated, the better it gets.