This is a ‘composed’ salad, rather than a ‘tossed’ salad.
The ingredients are arranged (artfully) on a bed of lettuce, and the dressing is drizzled over the top. As in most salads, it’s very flexible, ingredients can be added or subtracted to suit taste and appetite.
It makes a lovely first course or light lunch.
I used tuna fillets, canned with lemon and olive oil.
On the bottom of the plate is our favorite treat from Spain: Banderillas.
Composed Salad with Tuna, Avocado
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- lettuce, enough for 2 small salads
- 6oz (180gr) high quality tuna
- 2 eggs, hard boiled, quartered
- 6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 small avocado, sliced
- 2oz (60gr) feta cheese, cubed
- fresh basil leaves
- olives or banderillas
- Vinaigrette:
- 1 tbs Dijon-style mustard
- 2 tbs tarragon white wine vinegar
- 3 tbs salad olive oil
Instructions:
- Make Vinaigrette:
- In a small bowl whisk mustard and vinegar.
- Slowly add olive oil and whisk until incorporated.
- To assemble:
- Lay lettuce leaves flat on 2 large plates.
- Arrange basil leaves, tuna, avocado, tomatoes, and eggs artfully on lettuce.
- Sprinkle feta over the top.
- Drizzle each with 2 tbs of dressing and serve, remaining dressing on the side.
I was helping my neighbor open up a gite for the season. She does ‘change-overs’ for the owners of the gite…. That means she does the cleaning and laundry between rentals…. A common summer job around here.
She had been in the house the day before and noticed a bird nest tucked behind the shutters on an upstairs window ledge.
The day we were there they had hatched.
I’ve never seen newly hatched birds before…. They’re naked!
The photos are not the best. Taking them through a window with a phone, quickly so as to not be around when mom returns, is not easy.
I had my phone set-up to make a ‘shutter’ noise. When the babies heard the noise they snapped to attention and opened their mouths.
And when I say ‘snapped’ I mean it. They went from a huddled, naked mass to open beaks in a nanosecond.
I snapped the photo.
I didn’t try for a second.
Mom came back, saw me and left again.
So I left.
My neighbor is going to cover the window and leave a note so they can grow-up undisturbed (we hope).
“Composed” v “Decontructed.” Both are creative.
Linda
PS Do you have the “Hamilton” soundtrack? Highly recommend!
So kind of her to cover the window! Yes, baby birds (unless they are precocial like chickens and ducks) are born naked and helpless.
It doesn’t take long for them to get their feathers but the parent birds do have to bring in a lot of food to get them to the fledgling stage – lets hope they get the chance to do so.
sullimaybe, except ‘composed’ salads have been around forever LOL. No, never heard of it but now I know. I can listen to samples on Amazon. Thanks…. We’re so behind out here in the boonies….
Zoomie, I just hope they leave it covered and don’t constantly peek. The house has been empty since last fall so it was safe – until now. I’ve never seen birds that newly hatched.
Gill, I do hope the parents will keep the kids in line so mama bird can feel safe. But I want to go back and look, too 😉