I've eaten this salad probably more often than any other single dish in the past year and a half. I eat it with anything. Bowl of rice and lao gan ma? Arugula salad on the side. Roast chicken thighs? Arugula salad on the side. Summer sandwich? Arugula salad on the side. It just carries it's own weight while being nice, fresh, sweet, sour, nutty.
Anyways, enough with the overflowing praise.
This recipe consists of very few ingredients, so I'd advise you to be careful with your selections. When selecting arugula at the grocery store, it helps a lot to flip over the plastic container and take a look at the leaves on the bottom. Sometimes this can show you if there are any super-dark-green leaves that indicate it's starting to go bad/limp. Look for it being super 'wet' at the bottom.
As for the balsamic, I prefer to use a thick balsamico di modena type in one of those arcane potion-looking bottles. The brand that I've been buying is Duo Vittore. If you can't find it at your local supermarket you can reluctantly, begrudginly, self-loathingly, purchase it on Amazon.
For olive oil my brother put me on to this Portuguese brand called Saloio. I love the stuff. Much more sweet and fruity rather than astringant and bitter with most Italian or Greek oils. Those are great too, though! It can be ordered from Portuguese importers, or at World Market.
Prep time: 1-3 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 handful of baby arugula
- ~1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (I just eyeball it)
- ~1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- A few walnuts
- Parmesan
Directions
- Add arugula to a mixing bowl
- Drizzle in both balsamic and olive oil with a small pinch of salt
- Either crumble walnuts on top, or mince walnuts with a knife until semi-fine, then mix into the salad
- Toss salad with tongs, chopsticks, hands, whatever!
- Transfer to serving bowl
- Grate parmesan over top
It's honestly not even worth it to make a recipe for this, since I assume many people know of this combination. I simply choose to make it as it's the salad at one of my favorite home-town restaurants. Most of the wisdom here (and flavor) comes down to the olive oil and balsamic choices which I choose to impart upon whoever is reading this.