“If this salad sat on the pass for five minutes waiting for other dishes before it could go out, it would get soggy,” says Perry. “The only way around this is table service. The salad is presented to the customer, dressed, tossed, then spooned onto a plate and served. It means my chopped salad is perfect every time.”
Ingredients
Croûtons
Champagne dressing
Method
Main
1.For croûtons, heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan over high heat and add the garlic clove to infuse the oil. To test if the oil is the right temperature, add a cube of bread; the oil should start bubbling but the bread should not colour too quickly. Carefully tip the croûtons into the oil (be careful as hot oil may spit) and cook, stirring continuously with a metal spoon, until golden. Strain and drain on paper towel. Season to taste with sea salt while hot. Makes 2 cups.
2.For Champagne dressing, combine the olive oil and vinegar in a small bowl, squeeze in the lemon juice and season to taste. Transfer to a sauce boat.
3.Arrange the witlof in a straight line on a plate. Next to that, arrange the chickpeas in a straight line followed by the chorizo, jalapeño, cherry tomato (slightly overlapping), radish, cucumber, radicchio, spring onion, sorrel, fennel and herbs, and finish with the grated Gruyère. Scatter over the croûtons.
4.Toss the salad in the dressing at the table and serve immediately.
, by Neil Perry, will be published in October by Murdoch Books ($79.99, hbk). In this preview, recipes have been reproduced with minor
style changes.
This recipe is from the September 2011 issue of
.
Notes
