I love love love a good salad. When I come across a salad I haven’t had before I get pretty excited about duplicating it at home. It hardly ever tastes the same and never better than at the restaurant. Until…it did! One of my fave salads in Manhattan is the chopped salad at Fairway Market Café and Steakhouse on the Upper West Side. It’s made with wild greens and has a prawn option – which I always have. I order it sans red onion and with prawns. It’s so fresh and delicious. Here’s the recipe that I deconstructed from eating it a few times at the Fairway Market Café. I’m sure there are differences in our dressings, but mine is really good.

The amount below is for 3-4 people, but simply add more as needed…

A large bowlful of wild green lettuces, and/or arugula. (I like to mix wild greens and arugula in my salads.)

3-4 golden beets

1 lb. uncooked prawns

2 cups cherry tomatoes

Half a cucumber

1 head endive

2 cloves garlic

Extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. mustard

Juice of half a lemon

1 tsp. honey

Salt and pepper

Clean and peel the beets – then chop them down to little cubes and cook them on the stove with olive oil, salt and pepper, until the right consistency (not too soft). Let them cool down to room temperature.

Cook the prawns in olive oil and crushed garlic. Then set them aside in a bowl to cool down. Do keep the olive oil and garlic juice (we’ll use a touch in the dressing).

Cut the cucumber into small cubes. Chop the cherry tomatoes into half or quarter pieces. Chop the endive in tiny pieces. Chop the lettuce into small bite sizes. If the prawns are large – cut them into bite sizes.

Once the beets and the prawns have cooled down – toss all the ingredients together and whisk up the dressing–which consists of the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, honey and a splash of the oil/garlic juice from cooking the prawns.

I like to serve the dressing on the side, but feel free to toss it all together.

Bon Appetit!