Lucali Salad
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 5smallish tomatoes, halved and cut into fifths
- ½smallish red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1rib celery with leaves, ideally from the heart, chopped
- 18canned, pitted black olives, plus 2 tablespoons olive brine
- 2teaspoons kosher salt
- 1teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1teaspoon lemon pepper
- ⅓cup olive oil
- 1teaspoon red-wine vinegar
- 1head iceberg lettuce, outer leaves and brown bits removed, roughly torn
- 1cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½cup red-wine vinegar
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- ½teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- ½teaspoon lemon pepper
For the Salad
For the Dressing
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
521 calories; 54 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 39 grams monounsaturated fat; 6 grams polyunsaturated fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 684 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
- Step 1
Combine the tomatoes, red onion and celery in a large bowl. Add the olives, bruising each slightly between finger and thumb, and the olive brine.
- Step 2
Add the salt, peppers, olive oil and red-wine vinegar to the bowl, and mix gently with your hands or a wooden spoon. Cover with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator for a minimum of 20 minutes and up to 2 hours.
- Step 3
Wash and dry the lettuce, then put in a bowl, cover and place in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the salad.
- Step 4
Make the dressing. There will be a lot left over, which you can cover and store in the refrigerator for up to a few weeks. Combine the olive oil, red-wine vinegar, salt, black pepper and lemon pepper in a jar or large bowl. Cover the jar, and shake until emulsified, or use a whisk to achieve the same result in the bowl. Set aside.
- Step 5
Assemble the salad. Spoon onto a large platter enough of the tomato mixture and accumulated juices to cover its bottom. Arrange some of the iceberg across the top of the tomatoes, and drizzle a little dressing over it. Add some more of the tomato mixture, then another round of the iceberg. Drizzle with some more of the dressing, and then repeat. Serve immediately, so the lettuce does not wilt, either with Italian bread or topped with meatballs, perhaps alongside spaghetti or pizza.
Private Notes
Comments
Hooray for iceberg lettuce! It's wonderfully crunchy. If you're making a salad for one, try this dressing: measure three "teaspoons" (just use any spoon) of olive oil, one teaspoon of any vinegar, and then add salt, pepper, and a pinch of any other salad spices you like (garlic powder, mustard powder, etc.) into a teacup. Stir it with the spoon, pour it over the salad. It took me a long time to figure out a simple way to make just enough dressing for one.
If you read the accompanying article, the idea is that "fancy" olives overpower the salad. Pizzarias typically use big black pitted olives that come in huge cans. So if you want the "authentic" house salad, you need canned olives. This recipe is for people trying to replicate that salad at home. You could just as easily follow most of the steps and substitute a good lettuce instead of iceberg and a good Kalamata olive, and end up with an inauthentic, but better-tasting salad.
I always reverse oil and vinegar amounts. Less fat, more tart acid, better mouth feel to me.
This is my go-to salad for almost any Italian meal of pasta with red sauce. I’ve made it a dozen times. You can marinate the celery, olives, onions and tomatoes well in advance, place the prepped lettuce on top of them in your salad bowl refrigerate, and just toss at serving time. It is delicious! I always make more of the marinated veggie mix than the recipe calls for and set some aside, so I can have another salad with leftovers the next day - just add more lettuce! My two suggestions are to forego making “the dressing” altogether, as it has the exact same ingredients as what you’re marinating the veggies in! I just add a bit of extra olive oil and red wine vin - enough so it can sufficiently dress the lettuce. And I quickly found that this is a VERY Salt-forward recipe, so foregoing the dressing also keeps it from getting overly salty (lemon pepper is half salt so we’re talking almost three tsp of it, total. I think this amount of salt is responsible for the four star rating instead of the five it might otherwise get; the salt is overpowering! And I LOVE Salt - don’t avoid it at all. My other suggestion is to add a nice squeeze of tomato paste to the olive oil and vinegar mix (especially if you’re making this when it’s not late summer tomato season!) This addition really bumps up the flavor and umami richness of the dressing! I use the canned green ripe pitted olives that taste just like the black canned olives. These are not in brine. Great , satisfying salad.
I added the liquid that was left in the salad bowl to the extra dressing.
I admit I've never had this salad at the restaurant. But I cannot imagine ANYONE putting commercial "lemon pepper" on ANYTHING. I made the salad as described, and I can't get the artificial lemon taste out of my mouth. Otherwise, it's a good salad with great juice left over. That's from pre-salting the tomatoes. THAT should be the headline here.