Warm Winter Salad

Warm Winter Salad

The coldest night in years and I had a taste for salad last night. I wasn’t in the mood for a side salad I wanted the salad to be the meal. Don’t get me wrong, I love soup and eat it all the time. I just craved crunch last night. I also wanted a warm meal so I decided to add some warmth to my salad. I had romaine lettuce so I had the crunch part covered. I also had a perfectly ripe avocado to add richness. I checked out what I had in the fridge and ended up with leftover turkey from making stock. I did a sort of pulled turkey thing and added barbecue sauce and heated the whole thing up. I also wanted fresh croutons- so much better than store bought. I sauteed up a small shallot in oil, added bread cubes and some parsley and cooked, stirring often, until the bread was toasted and crunchy. Time to assemble the salad. Romaine lettuce in first. I cut the avocado and tossed the slices in olive oil, lemon juice and a little salt and placed them in the salad next. I drizzled the lemon juice mixture over the lettuce. Next the hot barbecue turkey and then the croutons and toasted shallots. Not exactly what you might think of having on a below zero evening but every bit at comforting as a big bowl of soup.