Saturday, January 15, 2011

Layered Black Bean and Not Mozzarella Salad

There is a great local italian restaurant named "Casa Mia" that makes an unusual salad of iceberg lettuce, mozzarella and olives which is layered with your favorite dressing.  It is one of the restaurant dishes that I miss now that we are eating a nearly fat-free, plant-based diet so I set out to re-create it at my hubby's request.

To substitute for the black olives, I use black beans that have been drained and rinsed, then soaked in balsamic vinegar with a little salt.  It comes pretty close, or at least close enough.  Soak for at least two hours, then drain off the vinegar.
For the mozzarella cheese use non-diary rice mozzarella shreds.
We always ordered this salad with blue cheese dressing.  That has been the most difficult part to replicate.

Ingredients for salad dressing:

1/2 cup non-dairy sour cream (I recommend Tofutti.)
2 Tbsp. non-dairy milk (non-fat)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. dill
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. Bragg 24 herb seasoning mix

To make a plate of salad for one, take 1/4 head of iceberg lettuce and shred or chop fine, cover the plate.
Drizzle salad dressing over lettuce.  The next layer should be your non-dairy mozzarella cheese, just enough to cover the lettuce.  Finally place 1/2 cup of the black beans on top.

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