You have really got to be in the mood to chop, and possess some mad skills with the santoku. Wear comfortable shoes, you're gonna be standing for a while.
I should call this recipe "Une Salade pour les Patients Gastriques de Déviation" or maybe even better, "Una Ensalada para los Pacientes Gástricos de Puente" because I can read and pronounce Spanish while my French sucks. Although I studied German for three years in college, I'm not going to even attempt it. If you like twisting your tongue into a half hitch knot, run it through Babel Fish. This salad for gastric bypass patients would have certainly satisfied my craving for all things green, which cropped up around two weeks after my surgery. There was no way my tampered-with digestive system could have dealt with all that glorious roughage, but crave I did. When the time came my doctor cleared me for salads, I found I still could not easily enjoy any kind of lettuce or cucumber in their raw state. Even now, 8 years post-surgery, I will dive happily into a big bowl of salad, only to have it return the favor, so to speak, within the hour.
As I worked on developing this recipe, I realized I was chopping the food a lot smaller than in any other similar recipes I had seen. Loving radishes as I do, I went ahead and grated them, as I did the carrots. The end result of all my micro-chopping is a delicious salad that is easy to eat. You certainly have the option of leaving the pieces a little bigger. Just don't approach that state of chop known as "chunky" and you'll still have an authentic chopped salad.
For the dressing, I used Ken's Lite Northern Italian. You can make your own vinaigrette, but why? Just asking ...
1-10 oz. bag of Italian salad mix (romaine and red cabbage), finely chopped
1/3 bag of Angel Hair Cole Slaw, finely chopped
1 large or 4 baby cut carrots, freshly grated
4 red radishes, grated
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 small green or mixed colors of bell peppers, finely chopped (I used about 6 mini-sweet peppers)
1/3 of a large cucumber, seeded and patted dry, finely chopped
8 black olives, cut in quarters lengthwise
8 grape tomatoes, cut in quarters lengthwise
1-8oz. container Cedar's brand Fresh Chick Pea Salad, or 1-7.75 oz. can chick peas, drained and roughly chopped
Thinly sliced Italian cold cuts, chopped - I used hot calabrese, pepper salami and hot capocollo, but you can use whatever you like. I think I used a total of about 10 thin slices
shredded extra sharp Cheddar cheese - to taste
shredded Asiago cheese - to taste. Again, you can use any cheese you like; provolone is a natural with this, as is mozzarella
Place all the salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently. Add the meats and cheeses and toss again. No doubt you can already see where you might like to make substitutions or revise the amounts uses. Go for it, this is a virtually no fail salad.
Now just before you are ready to eat, take your portion and place it in a deep bowl. Drizzle on just enough dressing to moisten the salad, and toss it gently. Once you have dressed the salad, eat immediately.
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