A Salad That's Almost a Sandwich

Have you noticed I declare blogging schedules and then am incapable of following them? My 3x a week posting plan has gone.....I don't know where. To the land of prenatal yoga which I seem to be doing on those mornings I envisioned myself here. Ah well.

To catch you up on

Mamaland: reading A LOT on vaccines. Still not sure where I stand on this. I suspect, like most of my decisions, I'll be taking the middle road, like using some cloth and some disposable diapers--doing some but not all vaccines. Especially when some of them were only put on the market in the last 10 years so I, Sky, all our friends never had them and we're fine. Definitely want a pediatrician that's open to spacing them out and skipping certain ones if we choose to. Have met some good ones.

Actingland: have done 2 of my 4 days on I am I. Remember my friend I posted about who was raising money for her movie? It's in mid-production, going to be brilliant, and yours truly shows up in a few scenes. Baby's first job!

Homeland: chaise outside arrived. We spent a good few hours over the long weekend picking Flor tiles. Sneak peek: we're copying this for our bedroom. Planted tomato starters and they've already tripled in size. YAY! I failed to get the kitty into the cat carrier. Must restrategize once it trusts me again to pet it.

these have nothing to do with anything except they're the prettiest wine labels ever

Familyland: Brock, Kristina and Dashiell are staying with us for a few days while the inside of their house gets painted. We joke that we'll buy a big piece of land with 2 houses and have our own mini-commune. Last night I got home close to 8 and wanted to make dinner for everyone. Enter new delicious salad sent to me by a good foodie friend. Radicchio doesn't always strike me as a summer lettuce, but there's been a gorgeous supply at the market lately, plus this recipe uses zucchini pickles, of which I am a huge fan and are really best in the summer. Both Kristina and I are fans of the Zuni Cafe recipe, and she posted it a while back so I'm just going to link you there. Sky, after one bite, proclaimed This is really interesting. Which coming from a Meltzer could be a good or bad thing--they're not known for their adventurous palates, though Sky has broken form of late and gotten into some new exotic things. Like egg on pizza.

But I think the salad is really good. I've adapted it slightly because in my opinion the recipe didn't add nearly enough pickles and parmesan, and I had different herbs on hand. It's important to soak the radicchio to cut the bitterness, so save some time for that. I shortened the soaking time a lot since I didn't want us to eat at 10, and it was good, but more soak=better salad. Make the pickles and marinade the day before, and you'll have a fat jar of pickles left in your fridge for use on other salads and sandwiches.

Radicchio Salad with Zucchini Pickles, Green Olives and Parmesan

adapted from an adaptation of Jason Neroni of Osteria La Buca restaurant

1 recipe Zucchini Pickles

1 c red wine vinegar

2 garlic cloves, peeled

few sprigs of fresh thyme

1/2 medium red onion

2 small heads radicchio, quartered and coarsely chopped

small handful chopped mint leaves

small handful chopped Italian parsley leaves

EVO

1 1/2 c grated fresh parmesan

1 cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted

1. Make marinade the night before: combine vinegar, onion, garlic and thyme. Refrigerate overnight.

2. Soak radicchio in bowl of ice water for an hour. Drain, dry and reserve. Strain marinade and set aside.

3. Toss radicchio with mint, parsley, a big handful of pickles, 1/4 c marinade and a good glug of olive oil, parmesan and olives. Season with salt and pepper and serve.