Layered Chef's Salad

The ingredients for chef's salads are often just thrown together and tossed.

With a

little extra care, you can make this into a buffet centerpiece. The final

pinwheel design on the

top does the trick, with the garnish being bright and lively.



1 large head red leaf lettuce

2 heads romaine lettuce, hearts only

1 cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced

6 ripe tomatoes, each cut into 6 wedges

1 red bell pepper, julienned

1 yellow bell pepper, julienned

1/2 lb. Swiss cheese, cut into very thin strips

1/4 lb. Genoa salami, cut into very thin strips

1/4 lb. baked Virginia ham, cut into very thin strips

3 cups shredded cooked chicken meat

12 oz. marinated artichoke hearts, drained and halved

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1 cup of your favorite vinaigrette dressing

3 hard-cooked eggs, quartered, for garnish

1/2 cup pitted black olives, for garnish

1 TB chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish



1. Rinse and dry the lettuce, discarding tough outer leaves. Line the bottom

of a large salad bowl

(preferably glass, for a beautiful display) with whole leaves of red-leaf

lettuce. Tear the romaine l

ettuce into bite-size pieces and layer them in the bowl with two-thirds of

the cucumber, tomatoes, bell

peppers, cheese, salami, ham, chicken and artichoke hearts. Season with salt

and pepper and toss

with 1/2 cup of the vinaigrette.



2. Decoratively arrange the remaining third of the vegetables and meats, the

hard-cooked eggs and the

olives in a pinwheel design atop the salad. Spoon the remaining vinaigrette

over the top and sprinkle the

salad with the chopped parsley.



3. To serve, present the salad, then toss and serve.



Serves 8.