newniss.

That's one of the nicest things about cooking, wouldn't you say. That you can completely ignore or forget about a concept or ingredient for years and years and then one day, holy shit, something fresh and exciting and thoroughly repeatable. The first is a "chopped salad", the second is the too-fucking-trendy spelt "risotto", both made out of a semi-desperate attempt to use up things in the kitchen.

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nancy's chopped salad with oregano dressing.

4 cloves garlic

1 tbsp dried oregano 

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 and 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas or white beans, drained
1 small red onion, peeled and sliced into paper-thin rings

100g hard italian cheese (well, I used Parmesan, the original recipe calls for Provolone)
100-200g salami, peeled, sliced thin/small, or this could be tuna, or possibly a hard-boiled egg
4 small pickled pepperoncini, sliced into rings

200-300g cherry tomatoes, halved

Sea salt

1 head iceberg lettuce (see Note about size), halved, cored, and cut in 1/2-inch ribbons

1 head radicchio, halved, cored and cut in 1/4-inch ribbons

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