Italian Wonton Salad

I titled the compilation Family Food, and while I was putting the collection together, I noticed a strange trend in my own personal recipes—they combined ingredients in an unusual way. Take the Sweet Sausage and Broccoli Pizza, for example. The sauce is a creamy parmesan, with plenty of red pepper flakes and fresh garlic. I don’t know about you, but I would have never eaten this as a kid. It goes against the very idea of pizza! But it’s delicious, nevertheless.

Then there’s this Italian Wonton Salad. I don’t know how I came up with the idea to fry these classic Italian ingredients in a Chinese inspired wrapper. I’d never even cooked with wontons before. And let’s face it, they’re incredibly time consuming. But the results were good enough that I wanted the recipe in the cookbook, so in it went.

Here it is:

Italian Wonton Salad

Ingredients:

4 large tomatoes
8 oz. fresh mozzarella (about 4 balls)
1 bunch fresh basil
fresh ground pepper
1 package wonton wrappers (50 count)
green leaf lettuce
vinaigrette salad dressing
canola oil

Finely chop 3 tomatoes, 4 oz. (2 balls) fresh mozzarella and basil. Stir together in a large bowl and grind fresh pepper over top. Let sit for ten minutes then pour off any excess juices.

To assemble wontons, follow package directions, placing only a small amount of the mixture on each wrapper to assure a complete seal.

Heat 2-3 cups of canola oil in a large wok and deep fry wontons until crispy. Drain on several layers of paper towels.

Wash and chop lettuce. Top individual serving plates with a bed of lettuce and sprinkle with your favorite vinaigrette salad dressing. (I like Moosewood Restaurant’s Versatile Vinaigrette, but I’m anxious to try this recipe with a Balsamic based dressing.) Place several wontons on lettuce bed and garnish with remaining tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil.