Copy Cat Citizen Public House Chopped Salad

 The night before Jordan got married we were in Scottsdale with him.  He wanted to try the Citizen Public House for dinner that night.  It was a small, cozy restaurant and without reservations we could only sit at the bar and eat.  One of their special dishes is a Chopped Salad.  I wanted to get something they were well known for so I order the salad.  It sounded so different and it was.  And it was delicious.  I found the knock off recipe online.  The one ingredient I had to get from Amazon was the freeze-dried corn.  I really wanted to get that one item as I remembered it added so much to the salad.  For the black currants I used the dark red ones. For Les and I a half of recipe was plenty.

Copy Cat Citizen Public House Chopped Salad

Serves 4 generously

Ingredients:

Dressing:

• 1 1/2 cups mayo
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 T. Pecorino Romano cheese
• Juice of 1 large lemon
• 18 basil leaves
• 1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic

Trail mix:

• 1 cup black currants
• 1 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• 3/4 cup ground aged Asiago cheese

Tomato mix:

• 2 cups chopped Roma tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
• 3 T. balsamic vinegar
• 2 T. olive oil
• 4 large basil leaves, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

• 2 cups smoked salmon, flaked or 2 cups grilled pieces of chicken
• 2 1/2 cups freeze-dried corn
• 2 1/2 cups chopped arugula
• 2 1/2 cups cooked Israeli (pearl) couscous

Directions:

1. Combine all dressing ingredients thoroughly in blender and set aside.  
2. Toss all trail mix ingredients together in one bowl.
3. Mix all the tomato mix together in another bowl.
4. To assemble the salads, divide ingredients evenly between four plates and assemble in strips in the following order: salmon/chicken, couscous, arugula, trail mix, corn, and tomato mix.  
5. Serve with dressing on the side or drizzled over the top.

Breadsticks (Grissini)

 Crispy bread sticks are great to have to go along with your Italian meal, or any meal.  They mix up quickly and are easy to make.  Enjoy!

Breadsticks

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups (380 grams) bread flour or all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. dry yeast
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (195 ml) warm water
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
• 2 T. (30 g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 1/4 tsp. fine salt
• Optional:
• Olive oil, melted butter or water for brushing
• Sesame seeds or Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Using a mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix all ingredient on low speed until well combined, 2-3 minutes.  Increase mixer speed to medium-low and mix for another 5 minutes.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for one hour at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line two baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Divide dough into 24 pieces, each weighing about 25 gram. Roll each piece into a log this it roughly 25 cm long, or I just roll it to fit across the baking sheet. Do 12 breadsticks on each baking pan.
4. If you like, brush them with oil or water and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese or sesame seeds.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden and crisp. I usually bake both pans at once and switch them around half way through baking.  
6. Allow  breadsticks to completely cool on a wire rack.