This salad is a beauty and excellent to pair with any meal. Serve it arranged on a large platter and it becomes Butter Blossom Lettuce Salad. The soft, round leaves of butter lettuce create the perfect Spring flower blossom and have a mild buttery flavor. Radicchio leaves add a nice bitter bite to the salad while radishes create the perfect peppery spice.
This recipe was created out a an offer that came to me from Bella Sun Luci to feature some of their products in a post. I jumped at the chance because I already buy their sun-dried tomatoes, the quality and flavor are always first rate. Easily tossed onto the Butter Blossom Lettuce Salad, the tomatoes add nice depth of flavor, beautiful color, and pair perfectly with the Dijon mustard vinaigrette dressing. Finish off with pickly capers and top with some shaved Parmesan.
You can vary the types of lettuce to your liking for this recipe but I highly recommend the combination of radishes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and Parmesan. This is the perfect mix of textures and bright, bold flavors. For a main dish salad, top with grilled chicken or smoked salmon, even thinly sliced flank steak (my favorite).
I’ll be serving this salad a lot this summer and it’s even a great winter side. Because it takes only 10 minutes to toss together and looks beautiful! Easily changed up with crumbled blue cheese instead of the Parmesan, change out the capers for some mixed gourmet olives. If you get assigned a tossed salad at your next dinner get-together, give this a try. Economical and simple, but sure to impress!
Butter Blossom Lettuce Salad
Ingredients
- Dressing
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Salad
- 1 head of butter lettuce leaves separated
- 1 head of radicchio sliced thin
- 3 green onions green and white parts, sliced thinly
- 10 radishes trimmed and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
- 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil drained, whole or diced (Bella Sun Luci is an excellent brand)
- 2 tablespoons capers whole if small or very roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup shaved Parmesan cheese more or less to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, salt, and the ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add the oil and whisk until fully blended. Set aside.
- Wash the lettuce leaves, dry well and keep whole or tear into large pieces. Arrange in blossom or flower shape on serving platter, or toss in large salad bowl. Add the radicchio, green onions, radishes and tomatoes; either placing over butter lettuce on serving platter or tossing with lettuce in bowl.
- Drizzle salad dressing over salad if serving on platter and sprinkle with capers and top with shaved Parmesan. If using salad bowl, toss dressing, capers, and cheese before serving.
Yum! Love the sun-dried tomatoes addition.