One of my favorite restaurants in Seattle is Ocho. Their lovely tapas selections make me so happy, though the bill tends to add up a bit, so I’ve recreated one of their dishes. It’s a simple butter lettuce salad with oranges, chives, and toasted almonds.

Butter lettuce

orange (one per entrée-sized salad)

chives (possible to sub scallions, but the flavor won’t be as delicate)

sliced almonds

sherry vinegar

extra virgin olive oil

dijon mustard

salt and pepper

optional: chicken

Wash and shred butter lettuce. Make sure lettuce is completely totally dry. Chop chives, peel orange (I just use a knife) and cut into chunks. Toast almonds until light brown. Chop optional (cooked) chicken.

To make the dressing, put vinegar in a bowl, add a spot of the mustard, beat with a fork. Drizzle olive oil into to emulsify, season with salt and pepper. Pour most of the dressing off into a custard cup or similar.

Toss lettuce in bowl, adding a bit more dressing as needed to coat leaves evenly. Place on chilled plate, top with other ingredients, drizzle with a bit more dressing. Another optional add-in to make salad more of a meal is shaved curls of Parmesean cheese.