If you plan on coming to the Iberian peninsula anytime soon, within a short time you are going to see all sorts of menus cheerfully advertising ensalada mixta. In America, no matter how obvious a menu item is (to us), we add little descriptions:
Cheeseburger
(your choice of cheese from among at least thirteen varieties, bacon or no bacon?, comes with fries and a pickle)
Tomato soup
(made with our special organic heirlooms, with a touch of sherry and topped with basil chiffonade blah blah blah)
The Spanish don't have the same curiosity about their food. Unless we're discussing ham, at which point opinions and tastes suddenly come out of the woodwork, they're more content to be surprised.
Does it come with a side salad? Fried potatoes? The menu is silent. Sorry, peaches, you're on your own.
So I'm breaking it down for you: an ensalada mixta is the standard garden-variety salad here in Spain. Typical ingredients are: lettuce (usually romaine), onion, shredded pickled carrots, shredded pickled beets (that was fun to type twice), olives (lest you forget you're in Spain), corn, tomatoes, and sometimes a hard-boiled egg.
The last ingredient isn't pictured here because it is my culinary arch-enemy and I didn't want it anywhere near my salad. It is tuna fish. A whole pile of tuna fish. Just for you. Hope you weren't ordering the salad as a vegetarian option.
Top it all off with a drizzle of olive oil and a few splashes of vinegar (I know here you are wondering, balsamic? red wine? white wine with garlic infusions? and the answer is whatever's in the little bottle on the table.)
Go forth and conquer.
Not picture: nuts, dried fruit, herbs, creativity, choice of dressing, cheese, or flavor.
ReplyDeleteI do like ensalada mixta, but when I first got there I was always so baffled by it. Mixed salad? That could be anything (in the U.S.)! In Spain, it is a certain kind of salad. Y punto.
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