Salad with Olives

Of special interest are the bags of mixed salad leaves of different kinds, already washed and dried. A ready-to-eat mix only needs to be poured into a large bowl, which minimizes the time and greatly simplifies the whole process. With prepared greens, a salad with olives is extremely simple and takes just a few minutes.

If you bought bunches of lettuce, first soak the leaves in cold water so they regain their crispness, then dry them thoroughly. Tear the leaves with your fingers into large pieces and put them in a large bowl. It is worth adding arugula: the mustard oil in its leaves gives the salad a barely noticeable pleasant bitterness. Arugula leaves are usually long, so you can tear them into 2-3 pieces. Peel the sweet onion and cut it into thin rings or strips.

Remove the seeds from the sweet red or green pepper. Cut the pepper in half and slice each half into strips across the fruit. You can use small tomatoes, a few of them, or larger ones, in which case one is enough. Cut the tomatoes into thin wedges and add them to the salad. Finely chop the green onion and mix it with the other vegetables. Add the pitted black olives, making sure to drain the liquid off them.

Just before serving, salt the salad with a pinch of salt and add 0.5 tsp dried oregano. Toss the mixture, which is easy to do with two big spoons or forks. Given the size of the leaf pieces, it is enough to simply turn it over. In a cup mix olive oil and a few drops of wine or balsamic vinegar. I do not use lemon or lime juice for this salad, although many people prefer it. I don’t like it that way: citrus overpowers the aroma and flavor of all the ingredients. Whisk the mixture with a fork and pour it over the salad.

Gently toss the salad of green leaves, vegetables and black olives. If the onion did not separate into rings when cut, you can do it with your fingers. If you serve the appetizer for a shared table, put it on a large plate. For individual portions it is better to use small salad bowls. The salad should not be chilled: it tastes best at room temperature and keeps its aroma. This also makes sure the vegetables do not release juice.

You can also add pickled mushrooms to the salad. Parsley goes well too. Add fresh basil with caution, because it is too aromatic. You can add green olives, especially the bright green Sicilian Nocellara del Belice olives, which I love, although they are not always available and are expensive. But what you definitely should not do is dress the salad with mayonnaise.