Day Forty - Five : A Quick Fix

I have a confession to make ladies and gents -- I'm exhausted and want to be getting in bed but before getting in bed, I wanted to give you a recipe for a quick, springy, vegetal and salad fix -- easy and rapidly in your mouth and consequently your belly. I can pretty much guarantee that this is going to be my shortest writings to you, it's only Tuesday and I already feel like it has beem an exceptionally long week -- not a good feeling going into the next three days of the week that's for sure.

Enough of my venting, lets get on to my salad:

I like to use the red and green lettuce blend from say Uncle Vinny's, available for $2.99 at Fairway. Then I like to use about an eighth of a fennel bulb, a quarter of a Gala apple or an apple with a similar flavor  profile, and a nice handful of snow peas -- all chopped thin and small. Combine the lettuce with your choppings. Then top with nicely grated bel gioioso Shredded Asiago cheese and homemade croutons of whole grain bread. I realized when including my shredded Asiago that this was our first experience with Asiago in my writings, granted I know it is not your first experience with Asiago. Being it is our first experience, I thought I'd give you a few key factoids:
1. It's made from raw cow's milk and is DOP protected. Originally the cheese was only called Asiago if it was produced in the alpine area town of Asiago in the Veneto region of Italy. Then it was allowed to produced also in the Trento provence, another Alpine region in Italy. And now, Asiago, unfortunately is produced worldwide following the age old techniques that gained the cheese DOP protection.
2. It is a very versatile cheese. As a young cheese, it is an excellent addition to a sandwich turning it into a grilled cheese once heated. On the other hand, with age, it almost develops the nutty, salty, and butteryness of a good Parmesan -- how we are experiencing it in today's salad. Give it ago on sandwiches, salads, pastas, bagels, you name it, these cheese can adapt itself to its food surroundings!


Toss all the ingredients together and top with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette consisting of Maille mustard, olive oil, chopped shallots, and balsamic. Combine. Enjoy with a nice light glass of white wine or even last night's Channing Daughters Rosati di Merlot.


Night all. Check back tomorrow for a longer post.