Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [258]
• Retrieve the onion rings with a colander scoop or strainer, pour the water out of the bowl, put fresh water in. Put the onion back into the bowl and repeat the above procedure 2 or 3 more times.
• After squeezing the onion for the last time, change the water again and put the onion in to soak. Drain and replace with a fresh change of water every 10 minutes, until you are ready to make the salad.
• Before putting the onion into the salad bowl, gather it tightly in a towel and squeeze out all the moisture you can.
La Grande Insalata Mista—Great Mixed Raw Salad
For 8 servings
½ medium onion, preferably of a sweet variety, such as Bermuda red, Vidalia, or Maui, sliced and soaked as described, OR 3 or 4 scallions
2 small carrots
1 squat, round finocchio
½ yellow or red sweet bell pepper
1 celery heart
½ head curly chicory, Boston lettuce, or escarole, OR 1 whole head Bibb lettuce
½ small bunch mâche or field lettuce
½ small bunch arugula
1 medium artichoke ½ lemon
2 fresh, ripe, firm, medium round tomatoes
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Choice quality red wine vinegar
Note A mixed salad in the Italian style should reach for as great a variety of textures and flavors as the market can provide, and the ingredients suggested above take advantage of the year-round availability of many vegetables. The selection should be taken as a thoughtfully considered recommendation, but it is not ironclad and you can work within its guidelines to make substitutions that suit your taste and are adapted to the possibilities offered by your market and the season.
In a mixed salad such as this one you can also use Savoy, red cabbage, or green cabbage, shredded very fine; radicchio; romaine or any other variety of lettuce, save iceberg, which does not taste very Italian; small red or white radishes, sliced into thin disks; cucumber instead of carrot, but not the two together; very young zucchini, soaked, cleaned, and trimmed as described, cut into fine matchsticks and put into the salad raw.
1. Prepare the onion as suggested or, if you are using scallion, take a thin slice off the base, trimming it of its roots, and another slice off the tops, pull off and discard any blemished or discolored leaves, then cut the whole scallion into thin rounds and rings. Soak it in cold water a few minutes, then drain and shake dry in a towel. Put the onion when ready, or the scallion, in a large serving bowl.
2. Wash the carrots, take a thin slice off the tops and bottoms, peel them, then shred them on the largest holes of a grater, or in the food processor, or cut them into the thinnest possible rounds. Add them to the bowl.
3. Cut the finocchio tops where they meet the bulb and discard them. Detach and discard any of the bulb’s outer parts that may be bruised or discolored. Slice off about ⅛ inch from the butt end. Cut the bulb horizontally, across its width, into very thin rings. Soak the rings in 2 or 3 changes of cold water, then shake dry in a towel or salad spinner. Add the finocchio to the bowl.
4. Scrape away and discard the inner pulp and all the seeds of the pepper. Skin it raw, using a swiveling-blade peeler, then cut it lengthwise into very thin strips, and add them to the bowl.
5. Cut away any leafy tops from the celery heart, take a thin slice off its base, slice the heart crosswise into narrow rings about ¼ inch wide, and drop them into the bowl.
6. If you are using curly chicory, Boston lettuce, or escarole, discard all the outer, dark green leaves. Detach the remaining leaves from the head and tear them by hand into small, bite-size pieces. Soak them in one or two changes of cold water for 15 to 20 minutes, until no trace of soil shows in the water. Drain and either spin-dry, or shake dry in a towel. If you are using Bibb lettuce, prepare it as described above but use special care in handling it because it bruises easily and discolors. Add to the bowl.
7.