THAI INSPIRED CANTALOUPE CHORIZO SUPPER SALAD

By sallycohen

Salad serves 4 to 6; dresng makes 1-1/2 cups and keeps 4 weeks in refrigerator:

LYNNE'S TIPS

Tart greens include curly endive, frisée, Belgian endive, dandelion greens, escarole, arugula, young mizuna, baby mustard leaves, chicory, and radicchio. Go for balance by mixing several varieties. Make sure you get spearmint leaves, not peppermint. They aren't interchangeable. Spearming leaves taste minty and sweet, peppermint tastes minty and medicinal and aggressive.
Thai basil is more assertive than the sweet basils, like Genovese or Globe, commonly used in Mediterranean cuisines. Its leaves are smaller, slender, and more pointed, and Thai basil's stems have a purplish hue. For this recipe you want mild sweet onions such as Vidalia, Walla Walla, and Texas 1015 that are in markets now. Pick them up on sale and keep them handy for instant salads since you don't have to tame the usual sharp onion character with soaking. Just don't use sweet onions in cooking as their character turns dull and lifeless.
Make a double batch of the dressing. It keeps several weeks in the refrigerator and makes a fine marinade or dipping sauce.

Ingredients

• Dressing:
• 1 clove garlic, minced very fine
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or chile paste (adjust to your taste)
• 4 tablespoons Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup rice or cider vinegar
• 3 to 5 tablespoons sugar
• Salad:
• 3 large handfuls tart greens (not all arugula), washed and thoroughly dried
• 1/3 tight-packed cup fresh Thai or regular basil leaves, torn
• 10 ounces chorizo, or other spicy ready-to-eat sausage, thin sliced on the diagonal
• 1 small to medium ripe cantaloupe, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1 medium sweet onion, sliced very thin
• 2/3 cup salted peanuts (almonds can be substituted)
• 1/2 tight-packed cup fresh spearmint leaves.
• 2 limes, quartered

Preparation

Step 1

1. Blend dressing ingredients and taste for sweet-tart, hot balance. Adjust seasonings to taste.
2. In a big salad bowl, toss together the greens, basil, sausage, cantaloupe, and onion. Drizzle in dressing to taste. You could spread the salad on a platter or pile on individual dinner plates. Then scatter with nuts and mint. Serve salad immediately, passing lime wedges to squeeze over each portion.