Spanish Chopped Salad
I love eating salad, but sometimes I get tired of lettuce. This crunchy chopped salad made out of some of my favorite Spanish ingredients, like manchego cheese, tomatoes, ham, and olives is the perfect antidote. Customize the salad to your family’s tastes, adding chickpeas, chopped artichoke hearts, hearts of palm or capers, or replacing the ham with cooked shrimp. Scramble recipe tester Debby Boltman said, “I love salads for dinner and this was the perfect combination of crunchy, hearty satisfaction.”
Ingredients
- 2 eggs hard-boiled, sliced
- 1 cucumber peeled if it has thick skin, quartered, and diced
- 8 oz. cherry tomatoes halved, or use 1 large tomato, diced
- 1/4 red onion finely chopped
- 1/2 cup pitted black olives
- 4 oz. manchego cheese, or use Pecorino Romano, baby Swiss, Gruyère, or Asiago, or other hard cheese, diced
- 2 Tbsp. fresh flat leaf parsley chopped, or more to taste
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 lemon juice only, about 2 Tbsp.
- 4 oz. sliced ham or use cooked shrimp or chickpeas (optional)
Instructions
- Hard boil the eggs, if necessary.
- In a large serving bowl, combine the cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, olives, cheese, sliced eggs, and parsley. (For picky eaters, you may want to keep their portions separate so they can enjoy the non-combined ingredients.)
- In a small measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the oil, salt, and lemon juice. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine.
- Roll the sliced ham (optional) and secure with toothpicks to serve with the salad (arrange it around the salad, if desired), or toss in the other toppings, if desired. Serve it immediately or refrigerate it for up to 24 hours.
Notes
Do Ahead or Delegate: Hard boil, slice, and refrigerate the eggs, chop the cucumber, tomatoes, onion, cheese, and parsley, make the dressing.
Scramble Flavor Booster: Use additional red onion and/or add dried oregano or a minced clove of fresh garlic to the salad dressing.
Tip: While you are hard boiling the eggs for this dish consider hard boiling some extras to use for quick and easy breakfast, snack, or lunch offerings.
Nutritional Information Per Serving (% based upon daily values): Calories 400, Total Fat: 33g, 50%; Saturated Fat: 9g, 43.5%; Cholesterol: 152mg, 51%; Sodium: 1320mg, 56%; Total Carbohydrate: 10g, 4%; Dietary Fiber: 3g, 10%; Sugar: 4g; Protein: 18g
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