Autumn salad with country ham and walnuts
Use a mixture of salad greens for best results: arugula (roquette), curly endive (frisée), baby spinach, raddichio (trévise), lamb’s lettuce (mâche), or you can improvise.
2 large handfuls mixed salad greens
2 thin slices prosciutto or another dry-cured ham
6 walnuts, shelled, or 12 walnut halves
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. walnut oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
6-12 leaves of fresh mint
Begin by making the dressing. In the bottom of a large salad bowl, combine the balsamic and the oils, stirring to make an emulsified sauce. If you don’t have walnut oil on hand, just double the amount of olive oil. Add salt to taste and grind in some pepper. Add the minced garlic.
Prepare the salad greens. They need to be washed, spun dry and cut or torn into bite-size pieces. Add the greens to the salad bowl.
Slice the dry-cured ham in half lengthwise and then into crosswise strips. Add to the salad bowl. Crumble the walnuts over the salad. Snip the mint leaves crosswise into strips and scatter over the salad.
Mix only when ready to serve. Serves 2 generously.