“I Just Need a Little Something” Salad

There are evenings when I am both hungry and inspired for dinner, and go all out when cooking. Then there are evenings when the thought “I just need a little something” drives activity. This salad definitely came from the latter state of mind. I had eaten a large restaurant lunch and wasn't really all that hungry, but  had a nagging feeling that lunch, however substantial, probably shouldn't be expected to carry me all the way through until breakfast.

So, I did a fridge crawl and assembled a bit of this, and a bit of that. I pulled apart half a head of baby Romaine, leaving the leaves whole, and added grapefruit segments, avocado, some roasted red pepper and a handful of crushed peanuts.

The real stroke of luck was the dressing. My neighbor's Vietnamese mother had made me some nước mắm, into which I stirred some of the intensely flavored juices from my roasted red pepper and a little grapefruit juice, which tied the dressing to everything else on the plate.

1/2 head baby Romaine, leaves separated and left whole

1/2 grapefruit, peeled and segmented

1/2 avocado, chunked

1/2 roasted red bell pepper, sliced

1Tbsp roasted peanuts, roughly crushed

1Tbsp prepared nước mắm,

1 tsp roasted red pepper juices

2 tsps grapefruit juice

Arrange the whole baby Romaine leaves on a plate. Tuck the grapefruit segments, avocado and strips of roasted red pepper among and over the leaves.

Stir the nước mắm together with the roasted pepper juices and grapefruit juice. Taste before doing anything else to it; the precise balance will depend on both your nước mắm and how much sweetness and acidity the pepper and grapefruit bring to the proceedings.

Spoon the dressing over the salad, making sure some finds its way down into the Romaine rather than merely decorating the top leaves. Scatter over the crushed peanuts.

Eat your little something and consider the matter of dinner satisfactorily closed.