The salad I can't stop making

I am on the board of Planned Parenthood LA, which I find rewarding in many, many ways, but a major perk is the annual Food Fair event, held about a month ago. It's basically a huge room full of amazing things to eat, drink, and buy, from some of the best restaurants and caterers in town, and we just graze our way through with the mantra "it's for a great cause, it's for a great cause" running through our minds as we reach for another chocolate truffle or sashimi tower. But, after all the duck skewers and smoky salsas, tuna tartare and toffee brittle, at the end of the night, the bite that stayed with me was a simple arugula salad. It was the best thing I had eaten in days. I can't even remember which caterer was making it, so I can't give them credit here. I came home and tried to recreate the magic, knowing I would never be able to; there must be some catering club secret involved that would stymie my efforts and leave me scanning the minuscule type of the vendor list trying to find out where to send any amount of money to get another taste.

I was wrong. It was so simple, and the magic could be duplicated at will!!! I have since been making this salad with every meal, for lunch most days, and have been officially told by my family to stop already. I've created variations I love even better, but they're firm. No more salad.

But you guys are under no such constraints.

Arugula Salad with Parmesan and Lemon

by Sharon Graves

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: none

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Ingredients

• Fresh Arugula (I use bagged Wild Rocket from Trader Joes)
• Parmesan Cheese, shaved thinly with a cheese slicer
• Lemon juice
• Good olive oil
• Kosher Salt
• Fresh Pepper

Instructions

Open up the bag, take out about 1/2 of the greens and put them in a bowl.

Sprinkle on the cheese.

Squeeze 1/2 a lemon over the salad. Drizzle on some olive oil, add some salt. I think that's the magic ingredient, personally.

Toss, taste, adjust seasonings. Grind pepper on top.

Die of joy.

Eat for lunch, when no one is home to see you do it.

Sneaky Variation: Same as above, except: add a thinly sliced tart, flavorful apple, swap in salem blue cheese for the Parmesan and toss in some finely chopped mint.