A Pretty Little Salad

We had my parents and grandma over for dinner last weekend, and used the get together as an opportunity to try out our new wedding gift kitchen things. Here was the menu:

Grilled figs and toasts with goat cheese spread (my mom and dad brought this)
A pretty little salad (I officially named it that!)..served on salad plates from Courtney & Pete
Braised swordfish with tomatoes, olives, and capers...served with herbed polenta...cooked in Le Crueset from my aunts and uncles
Goat cheese panna cotta with wild blueberry reduction and candied figs...served on dessert plates from Nana & Pa

Goat cheese panna cotta-delicious! I'll post the recipe if anyone wants to try it out

Good thing we like goat cheese and figs, since we began and ended our meal with those delicacies. Grandma Marianne brought a magnum of champagne to keep us well hydrated through the evening...which we drank from our wedding glasses. And the table was set with the placemats and napkins from my work wedding shower, and we used our new flatware received from numerous people...thanks all!
I really have to share the salad recipe, since it is so easy, and looks so fancy and impressive when finished!

A Pretty Little Salad
serves 4

Garlic-Shallot Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons diced shallots
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons champagne vinegar (I used that orange champagne one from Trader Joes)
4 tablespoons good olive oil
In a mixing bowl, combine shallots, garlic, mustard, and vinegar. Using a whisk, stir in olive oil.

Salad:
1 pound mixed greens
1 tablespoon minced chives (I didn't use these, but it would be a nice addition)
3 tablespoons basil leaves, torn
3 tablespoons dill leaves
salt
pepper
1 cup grape tomatoes OR yellow pear tomatoes OR any tomatoes cut into wedges
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 English cucumber, sliced lengthwise into 4 thin strips *see equipment note*
In a small bowl, toss tomatoes and olive oil, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let sit while you prepare the rest of the salad.
In a large mixing bowl, combine greens, chives, basil and dill. Toss with garlic-shallot vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt and fresh cracked pepper.
On each of 4 serving plates, create a ring with the cucumber strips and place greens inside the ring (it works best to use your hand to fill the rings). Place tomatoes around the salad.
Enjoy!

*equipment note*
So I used a knife to slice the cucumber into thin slices, but according to chef Scott, my slices were not thin enough. This is one of those times when it really comes in handy being married to a chef, as my salad would not have held the ring shape if I used my original slices (he had made something similar before and knew the aero-dynamics of it well). The thin slices guarantee that the cucumber ends will stick together to form a ring. In order to achieve the thinnest slices possible, I used our hand held Kycocera mandolin, another cheap, great kitchen gadget.