Pizza salad is all about flavour and enjoyment, with all of your favourite pizza toppings in one large dish.
Pizza salad is what you get when you take all the best pizza toppings and transfer them from plate to mouth using lettuce rather than dough. I used a variety of lettuces for taste and texture, and added tomato paste, dried oregano, and garlic powder to the vinaigrette to intensify the pizza-like flavour.
I now find it absurd that I spent the first half of my life obsessively avoiding anything related to salad; if only I had realised that salad is so much more than just a large bowl of greens! My introduction to salads as an adult began with a Caesar salad, which is both predictable (because to the ratio of crouton to lettuce) and a little humorous (since it has anchovies). I eat a lot of salads these days, so when the concept for this pizza salad emerged, I was excited to work on capturing the taste and texture of pizza in a salad.
Recipe By: Devan Grimsrud
Pizza Salad: 25 minutes of preparation
25 minutes in total
SERVINGS: 4–8 portions
As an entrée, this meal serves four; as a side salad, it serves eight.
Ingredients for one cup of dressing:
- One-fourth cup red wine vinegar
- one tsp tomato paste
- Two tsp Dijon mustard
- One-half tsp sugar and one-half tsp dried oregano
- one tsp powdered garlic
- Half a teaspoon of kosher salt
- One tsp black pepper
- One-third cup of extra virgin olive oil
Regarding the salad:
- Six ounces of pepperoni slices, cut
- Five ounces of little mozzarella balls (or big balls, cut in half)
- 2.3 cup of black olives, cut
- One cup of sliced red onion
- Two cups diced bell pepper (red, green, and yellow)
- Four individual cups of shredded iceberg lettuce
- Chop four packed cups of romaine lettuce
- Grate 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese finely and fresh.
Instructions for the Recipe:
- Prepare the dressing: To an airtight container or resealable jar, add the red wine vinegar, tomato paste, Dijon mustard, sugar, salt, pepper, dried oregano, garlic powder, and olive oil. Give it a good shake to incorporate. It should be a highly flavorful, emulsified vinaigrette. Taste and adjust with extra salt, pepper, and sugar as needed.
- Get the salad ingredients ready.To a big bowl, add the pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, bell pepper, red onion, black olives, and both lettuces.
- Toss and serve: When ready to serve, give the dressing another vigorous toss. Toss everything until everything is thoroughly and evenly coated after adding about half to the salad bowl. You can refrigerate the remaining dressing in the container for up to three days after adding extra, if preferred. Grated Parmesan cheese should be added to the salad, and warm breadsticks should be served alongside right away.
Nutrient facts: (323 per serving) Energy 27g Fat 10g Carbohydrates 11g Protein