salads!

Salads! I love salads but I think I had forgotten just how much I love salads until today's special at Immaculate Consumption: The Robb Salad. That's a little pun for you guys who may not know that the owner's name is Rob [I'm assuming its a pun on Cobb salad]. It was INCREDIBLE. A fresh, crispy, leafy bed of lettuce with fresh bacon bits, boiled quartered eggs, red onions, cherry tomatoes, hunks of gorgonzola cheese, and in place of turkey I requested avocado slices. Let me just say: it was to die for. With creamy dill dressing, it was the perfect mix of fresh, crunchy, sweet avocado and tomatoes but savory and a little sour taste of the cheese and the bite of the onion.
So over my solitary lunch of the perfect salad at Immac today, I narrowed down what components the absolute salad must have:

• Fish. By fish, I mean anchovies. My all-time favorite salad (today comes in second) is the Caesar salad from The Admiral - grilled romaine heart with fresh crouton and fresh parmesan, three little whole anchovies and the best caesar dressing drizzled over the plate.
• Red onions. Sweet, and bitey. They go with fruit AND with meat. I don't know why you wouldn't want red onions on everything.
• Cherry tomatoes. I am a huge tomato fan but I have decided that I mainly like cherry tomatoes on salads. Save the roma slices and the vine ripe for bruschetta, caprese and fresh spaghetti sauces.
• Cucumbers. Peeled. I grew up eating cukes with the skin on them (nutritious), but Immac introduced me to the wonder that is peeled cucumber slices (no bitterness whatsoever). I mean, at least you get hydrated from them.
• Moldy cheese. Rich cheese. Whatever you want to call it - not cheddar (only on burgers or by itself), not mozzarella - something bold to complement the other sweet vegetables thrown on. I love bleu and I love gorgonzola (try to Hunter-Gatherer burger with gorgonzola. By the way, check out their new website)
• Bacon. Well, I have come to love bacon on everything or everything cooked in bacon. I know this grosses out the vegans and the Jews, but pork is my all-time favorite meat.
• Avocado. I saved this one for last because an avocado can make anything good. A friend today mentioned a recipe for Avocado Soup that she saw - I am sure that it would be tasty, but doesn't cooking an avocado kind of desecrate it? I want my avocadoes ripe, fresh, and I want to savor them. On every salad.