A raw, cold salad

Some general principles

a) Never cook at high temperature (boil, sautee, fry, roast, pot roast, stew etc.) with green olive oil. Any sustained high temperature will destroy both the goodness and the distinctive taste.
b) Green olive oil is consumed raw or almost raw and is added only at the end in cooked dishes.
c) Avoid even low speed whipping. Green olive oil can turn bitter by the incorporation of oxygen induced by whipping. So no blender made mayonnaise with green olive oil. Even a Greek oil and lemon mix that is traditionally whipped with two forks is tricky.

If you want to give some zest to your mayonnaise and derivative sauces, the best approach is to use a mixture of two parts corn oil and one part green olive oil as your oil. Corn oil helps stabilize green olive oil.

Ingredients

1 Cos lettuce
2-3 spring onions
High quality vinegar, about one table spoon (avoid balsamic vinegar, use a genuine wine derived vinegar) or to taste
Green olive oil, five table spoons or to taste
Salt to taste

Preparation

Separate the leaves of the lettuce. Discard any wilted, yellow or brown leaves. Wash carefully each leave under the tap. Afterwards fill the sink with tap water, add two table spoons of cheap vinegar and add the lettuce leaves. Move around and then drain. Repeat as many times as necessary with pure tap water (no vinegar) until the water runs clean. The reason for this elaborate cleaning is that good quality lettuce (is grown without an army of chemicals) may contain lots of mud as well as small snails or similar which must be removed as they spoil the pleasure. Keep in mind that the occasional snail in lettuce are a sign of good quality, complete lack of them is indication of too many chemicals.

Slice the lettuce. Here there are two schools: ultra thin (less than a millimetre) and about half a centimetre. If you have the necessary knife skills try anyone you like. Slice the onions in slices, thickness of about half a centimetre per slice. Toss in the green olive oil, vinegar and salt. Mix and serve immediately.

Serves four as part of a meal. Avoid wine with this salad present. If wine must be served replace vinegar with freshly squeezed lemon juice.