Is a Salad Cooking?

Honest question. Is a salad cooking? The salad I made for dinner with friends last week is so easy it feels like a cheat and not as much effort as I find regular cooking to be. I know there are much more difficult salad recipes than the one I used, so where’s the line for me if my salad is a cheat? I have a salad recipe in my Paprika Recipe Manager program that has 26 ingredients (complicated and expensive-right?). The salad I’m discussing here has eight ingredients (four in the vinaigrette, counting the salt and pepper, and four other ingredients) so if eight ingredients is cheating then is 26 is actually cooking – where’s the line?

A Return to Colorado Springs

While I was in Colorado Springs this past September, my cousin Lisa and her husband Scott took me out to dinner at a lovely little neighborhood pizza spot called Stellina. Scott and Lisa visited this spot frequently and dialed in on the pizza, beer, and salads we would have. The salad they recommended was the Rocket Salad, which was divine. I searched for a recipe to recreate the experience, I discovered that arugula is also called rocket, which inspired the salad’s name. The ingredient list is short: arugula, gorgonzola, sliced zucchini, pine nuts, and lemon vinaigrette. That salad was so delicious. The chef secreted the gorgonzola under the lemon vinaigrette-coated arugula, creating a delightful and tasty surprise.

Home Again

After returning home, I wanted to make that salad and try to get it to match the salad I had experienced in Colorado Springs. I confess I was intimidated but finally bit the bullet and made it twice in the last couple of weeks. First, I made it and took it to a birthday celebration for my friend Tsuyako with my family. While it was good, it wasn’t quite right. The balance of the lemon and olive oil in the vinaigrette was too lemony. A week later, I prepared it for a gathering with friends for our second annual Friendsgiving. I reduced the lemon amount to match the olive oil, which was much tastier.

My family and friends did not have the same experience with the salad as I did at Stellina’s because I didn’t/couldn’t prepare it to serve each individual. Therefore, I couldn’t secrete the gorgonzola under the arugula. I also couldn’t sprinkle the pine nuts on top. I served the salad as a tossed salad and received many compliments despite that change.

However, after all that, I achieved a modicum of success in this salad journey. That makes me happy. As a result, I have a supply of rocket in my fridge right now, and I’m having the salad and chili for dinner this evening. The fact that I’m willing to prepare the salad for myself AND reheat chili is a testament to this not being “cooking” in my mind, so the question remains – where does salad cooking start?

Let me know what you think the line is here.