Instructions (Serves 4)

Ok, so I had this idea for a fancy Valentines day salad, so I took some pictures to share, but didn’t take any measurements (typical me) because I had no idea my guests would rave about it.

So now I’m stuck trying to recreate it all by memory so I can come back and recreate it with proper documentation. This was an creative undertaking on my part, so I would encourage you to do the same. Forget my ingredients if you want… take the idea and run! You’ll probably come up with something way more tasty!

Ingredients

• 2 Large, Long English Cucumbers
• Multicolored small format tomatoes, sliced in half
• 2 large handfuls baby Arugula
• 1 Avocado chopped large and tossed in Lemon or Lime juice
• 3/4 cup finely crumbled feta cheese
• Kalamata Olives
• 2-3 Figs
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 8 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar
• Lemon Juice
• Ginger
• Fresh Sage, Rosemary, Thyme
• Paprika
• Tumeric
• Cracked Black Pepper
• 2 garlic cloves chopped

So what is the wrap I used to roll the salad in. It’s an idea I saw on another social media site with zucchini, that I’ve used in multiple ways since then. This one is made from thinly sliced English cucumbers. I recommend them because they are a lot more solid than the seed filled traditional ones.

You want to find the longest cukes you can as it will reduce the amount of the veggie you need to make your wraps. All I do is slice them long ways with a vegetable peeler. Make as many long strips as you can, a few holes or uneven edges is ok.

I take 4 of the long strips and lay them side by side. I then take half strips and weave them into the long slices in a basket weave pattern. If the cross strips are just a little shy of the edges, don’t stress it will still work. Trim any that are too long. Tip: Build them on a mat or something that can go into the fridge. Basically the surface you want to roll them on. I found out they don’t transfer to a new location easily.

Once built I stuck them in the fridge to dry out a little and stay cool.

Next I worked on the deconstructed salad dressing. I wanted the guests to ‘create their own’ flavors by being able to dip or while their salad bites in the flavors of their choice. To keep the flavors separate I was not going to do any of that fancy encapsulation or gel stuff. Instead I just spread a thin layer of good quality olive oil onto the bottom of my service plates.

These are large and it took about 2 Tbsp per plate. If that seems like a lot, remember they will not / do not have to eat it all. They will dip or wipe each bite into the sections they want. The surface tension on the oil however does keep the vinegar based flavorings in their own little puddles. You can scatter them, and make them as large or small as you wish. I did try to enhance some colors for presentation and so my guests could tell them apart.

I then began working on my salad vinegars. Each one a different color and flavor profile. I used about 2 Tbsp of vinegar for each one because that is the least amount of volume I can use and the immersion blender still work. Here are the flavors I chose, but be creative and cater to your own tastes.

• Lemon Juice, Finely Grated Ginger, pinch salt
• White Wine Vinegar, Garlic, fresh Sage, Thyme, and Rosemary, pinch salt
• Red Wine Vinegar, Garlic, 1 Cherry Tomato, Paprika, pinch salt

Notice the orange dish. The yellow lemon based dressing was almost the same color as the olive oil on the plate. I ended up adding some Turmeric for a pop of color to make it noticeable. It also actually gave some balance to the tart lemon which was nice.

I ended up slicing my figs crosswise, into attractive circles. But I’d been trying to figure out how to add some crunch and texture to the salad.

I ended up with the idea to Brulé the figs so I put a few grains of salt, and then a small pile of sugar on each fig slice and hit them with a kitchen torch until the topping was bubbling and beginning to caramelize.

Note that in the future I would wait to do this until about 15 minutes to serving as the moisture and acid in the figs remelted the crispy topping. They were still delicious, but lacking the added texture I was hoping for.

Next I began my plating, by adding all the solid ingredients to the olive oil bottomed plate. I kept them sparse because I wanted plenty of room for the dressings to pool and splatter. I used the figs, kalamata olives and the halved small tomatoes. I left room in a row across the middle of the plate to be able to lay my rolls.

I grabbed my two handfuls or baby Arugula and tossed it in a bowl. I added the crumbled feta cheese and Avocado. I did not add any left over lemon or lime juice that I used to stop the Avocado from discoloring. The reason is the same for why I did not dress the salad directly. I didn’t want the salt or acid to wilt the crisp Arugula over time.

I grabbed about 1/4 or the arugula mixture and placed it on the end of each wrap. I gently lifted to edges of the wrap to make sure I had all the strips. Smushing the greens down I rolled a fairly tight roll about a silver dollar in diameter. The cucumber wrap will overlap a good bit which holds it together. Place them seam side down onto the space left on your plates.

Once the rolls were on the plates I began to drip my flavored vinegar, and some plain balsamic vinegar onto the plates in what I hoped was an attractive manner.

I plated mine about 45 minutes before guests arrived. Except for the melted Bruléd figs everything was still crisp and delicious for eating.

Get creative and enjoy!