My favorite salad: Italian Chopped

I never tried an Italian Chopped salad until I moved to LA. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried salads in various Italian restaurants (even in Little Italy) but I never had a “chopped salad.” Who knows, maybe it’s a West Coast thing?

East Coast/West Coast aside…this is a damn good salad and this weekend, I decided to give it a try. Salads are hard to mess up, but what I wanted most…was to emulate a salad I have at an Italian restaurant near my office.

To make the salad you’ll need:

• Romaine Lettuce
• Salami
• Chick Peas (or Garbanzo beans, whichever you want to call it)
• Tomatoes (I use cherry tomatoes)
• Red Onion (optional)
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

To make it “chopped” you must realize that everything must be FINELY chopped. I take the romaine in bunches and chop the leaves thinly.

Same with the salami…Try stacking them 4 or 5 at a time and slice them as thin as possible.

Chick peas must also be chopped; I usually just split them in halves.

I also chop the cherry tomatoes in fours.

After everything is place in the bowl, mix with Italian dressing…I used Paul Newman’s and it was really delicious.