Simple, basic, and essential. You can always make a true Vinaigrette (page 600), but as is, this is the simplest green salad, as good for entertaining as it is for weeknights. Almost any greens are good with this dressing, from romaine, Boston, or iceberg lettuce to frisée or radicchio, but a mixture is best. The prepacked mesclun mixtures now sold in almost all supermarkets make it even easier.

Ingredients

　　2 tablespoons minced shallot or red onion, optional

　　1/4 cup sherry, balsamic, or wine vinegar

　　4 to 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, to taste

　　Salt and black pepper to taste

　　About 1/2 pound lettuce and/or other greens, preferably a mixture

Step 1

Step 2

Green Salad with Nut Oil (France)

Step 3

Green Salad with Lemon (Italy)

Step 4

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.