Baby Gem Lettuce Salad

Author: Rudi Liebenberg
Category: Dish Type; Light meals; Main Ingredient; Meals and Courses; Salads; Sides; Starters; Vegetables

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Description

The perfect side salad for almost any meal!

Ingredients

Salad
olive oil for frying
150 g shimeji or portabellini mushrooms
1 tsp (5 ml) lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
200 g fresh asparagus
3 heads baby gem lettuce, trimmed and washed
50 g parmesan or mature cheddar, shaved
Dressing
1 egg, boiled for 3 minutes
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp (5 ml) Dijon mustard
1/5 C (50 ml) olive oil
2 anchovy fillets, crushed

Instructions

Salad
Heat a little olive oil in a small saucepan and quick-fry the mushrooms. Add the lemon juice and remove from the heat. Season to taste and set aside to cool (reserve the juices for the dressing).

Peel, trim and cut the asparagus into small pieces. Cook in boiling salted water for a minute or two and then refresh in cold water.

Combine the lettuce, mushrooms, asparagus and cheese.

Dressing
Peel and chop the egg, then add the remaining dressing ingredients, including the reserved juices from the mushrooms, and whisk together. Season to taste.

Toss with the dressing and serve.

Rudi Liebenberg

Rudi Liebenberg, executive chef at The Mount Nelson Hotel, decided that he wanted to be a chef because he didn't want to talk to people and 'food doesn't talk back'. In essence, his food speaks so loudly that he need never say another word. His culinary journey covers stints at the Michelangelo, the Sheraton and the Saxon but he has now settled happily in Cape Town with his family and has no plans to return to Johannesburg. His style of cooking is modern, but based on a love of 'real' food - home made pasta, down to earth home cooking with a 'cheffy' twist - fresh, delicious and with a nod to what is seasonal.