Insalata Mista Italiana

Anatomy of an Italian Lettuce Salad

Italians are very particular about lettuce salad. It's personal. In Italy, do you notice in most restaurants the glass bowls of different greens and raw vegetables offered on a carrello or trolley? Even McDonald's offers a selection of bowls nestled in crushed ice. Rarely is a composed salad served in a restaurant without consultation between waiter and diner. It becomes a matter of trust.

In Italy, when people order insalata, or a salad, usually a broad shallow bowl of lettuce is put down on the table along with cruets of extra-virgin olive oil and vinegar plus a shaker of salt. In northern Italy with its corresponding cooler weather, the vinegar is either red or white wine vinegar or a young balsamic vinegar. In southern Italy, balsamic vinegar is considered too sweet for salad, a tart freshness is needed to counter the heat, so wine vinegar is preferred. Fresh lemon juice often substitutes for vinegar especially during summer.

The knowledgeable diner asks for una bell'insalata mista, a beautiful mixed salad, signifying to the waiter to prepare it with care, and to include lettuce and raw vegetables. Since waiters specialize in table service, one of their duties is to make salads suited to the diner. Automatically this leads to a discussion out of respect for 3 entities - the diner, the waiter and the salad. As it is verbally composed along with the merits of either fresh lemon juice or vinegar as an accent, a bond forms over a simple salad. Only it is not simple at all, for you are asking the professional waiter, not the chef, to create a dish for you. It is one of the few times he can use his culinary skills to please you, and depending on the restaurant's style, coupled with his flair for the edible dramatic, you might be surprised with what is presented to you.

In some of the simplest restaurants in Italy, I've received "gifts" of beautiful salads, thoughtfully arranged with such precision and an eye for color, shape and texture that it would impress any artist. The interplay of sweet-salty-sour-bitter flavors can be remarkably satisfying and complete many a meal. Imagine the lettuce as the canvas and the raw vegetables as the paint. These can be layered with the spring green lettuce on the bottom punctuated by orange shards of julienned carrots, topped with crunchy pale yellow escarole or endive, and decorated with sliced green tomatoes. Looking at it sideways, each layer is distinct. Other times a leafy mounded creation appears with radiating carrots encased by a ring of cherry tomatoes accented with a branch of fresh basil. Sometimes delicate transparent slices of fresh fennel and spring onion accent an amazing array of cultivated and wild greens. Even a silver-domed plate can arrive encasing these basic common vegetables. With great flourish the dome is removed to reveal an edible mosaic of such brilliant colors and popping shapes that applause is the only response that suffices. Whatever the salad, share a moment of satisfaction by way of thanks to your waiter for there may be a culinary artist in the making.

To make a good salad, it's all in the eye and the wrist and the order of ingredients: What comprises the salad is important, of course, for it should consist of the freshest seasonal greens and raw vegetables. Sometimes there is a local indulgence, boiled chickpeas for example, but that's ok since everyone knows about the local favorite. More important is how it is assembled. Many Italians become impassioned with methodology, and insist, if not argue, that the only way to make a lettuce salad is to fill a bowl with your personal selection of salad ingredients, then drizzle with your favorite extra-virgin olive oil then lightly salt, then sprinkle with fresh lemon juice or vinegar. (A few people prefer to make vinaigrette. Rarely does anyone toss all ingredients together or that impromptu freshness is lost.)

Equally important is when the salad is served. If the salad is served as an antipasto, a mix of leafy greens and raw vegetables is normal. If the diner is having fish or seafood for the main dish, the salad is served afterwards and usually features only greens with its purpose being a palate cleanser. If the salad is served after several dishes and before the desserts begin, often a lovely mix of greens accented with some bitter leaves and paper-thin shavings of fennel is served to aid digestion. (Get prepared for the series of desserts about to begin!) After the salad, the diet-conscious conclude with only espresso served instead of dessert.

Anatomy Lesson: Offer a variety of fresh crisp greens, different colors and textures, and different flavors including sweet and bitter so the finished salad possesses sweet-salty-sour-bitter flavors. With each bite, the flavor changes. In Italy, we love adding crisp wild field greens when we're lucky enough to find them. The color orange appears in the most unexpected places, so shredded raw carrots perk up many greens. Other raw vegetables can be included but they must be dry. Nothing ruins a mound of crispness faster than a wet ingredient such as a juicy ripe tomato. Ripe tomatoes are reserved for mozzarella salads - moist cheese, moist tomatoes. Dry and crunchy acerbic tomatoes are used for lettuce salads, often green or green-orange in color. Raw vegetables are either thinly sliced or cut into small wedges, rarely chopped unless for a specific version. They are treated with respect and integrity for their important contribution to the salad's balance.

Common leafy greens are Romaine and Bibb lettuce, perhaps tender young escarole, endive often referred to in slang as Belga, mache or lamb's lettuce called valeriana, spinach and frisee or ricci, curly escarole. Wild greens of borrage, dandelion or tender young chicory indicate seasonality. Arugula, so popular in many countries, used to be considered a wild green for mangimi harvested in the fields as feed for rabbits. While some Italians still do not eat arugula for this reason, this crunchy green entices with its pepper-radish flavor so it's becoming a favorite of many. Radicchio in its true form is a leafy green while the common burgundy-red form is chioggia, with its varieties of rosso, rosso di Treviso tardivo and Castelfranco variegato. It always adds festive color and light bitter notes highly desired by aficionados especially following a fish main course.

The greens in Italy are so delicious that only good extra-virgin olive oil, salt and a bit of fresh lemon juice or vinegar is needed. At home, there's nothing more pleasurable than harvesting from your own garden. Plus now you have an alternative for multi-colored green-yellow-orange tomatoes!