First Apartment, First Kitchen: A Little Bit of This & A Little Bit of That Hearts of Palm Salad

Hearts of palm salad with avocados

In all the posts I've done, I can't believe I have yet to do a salad recipe! A and I eat salads all the time, mainly when we're too tired/lazy/hungry to cook. Salads are a great way to get good nutrition without a lot of calories (as long as you mind your toppings). I have a hard time eating a big lunch during the day, which usually means I pig out at dinner. Eating a salad makes me feel somewhat better, especially when you make it taste so wonderful that you forget it's a salad!
One of the many things A has introduced me to over the past year plus is hearts of palm. The first time she took out a jar of them and started chopping them to put them into a salad, I was so confused/weirded out/did not want those weird looking things in my salad. After the 3rd or 4th time of A putting them in and me eating around them, I decided to finally try them. And of course, I loved them!

An old montage of photos depicting the farmer's
harvesting of hearts of palm step-by-step

Heart of palm is a vegetable that comes from the inner core or growing bud of some palm trees, including coconut and what we call in English--the peach palm. They're often found in a can or glass jar in the canned goods aisle at the grocery store. When harvesting the baby palm, the tree is cut down and the bark is removed; what's left are layers of white fibers around the center core. It is then processed to remove the fibers, leaving the center core, which is the heart of palm. The entire cylindrical center core and the attached base are edible. The center core is often considered more of a delicacy because of its consistency and lower fiber content. Obviously the harvesting of the palm core is quite labor intensive, which makes the yummy heart of palm a delicacy in most parts of the world.
Enough about hearts of palm, now let's get to the eating part. My friend D gave me the delicious base recipe that her mom gave her. Funny enough, A and I had already conjured a salad similar to it and a slightly different dressing. So the recipe I'll share is an assimilation of the two salads.

HEARTS OF PALM SALAD

Ingredients:
2/3 box of mixed spring greens salad or iceberg lettuce
1 hot house cucumber*
2 28-oz canned hearts of palm
2 cups thinly sliced red onions
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup EVOO**
2 tbsp chopped parsley (I like to use Italian parsley)
1 tsp Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Bad picture, but longer and clearly
less seeds than a regular cucumber

*A hot house cucumber is longer and has less seeds compared to its common counterpart. In all honesty, you can easily substitute regular (easier-to-find) cucumbers and the salad will still be scrumptious.

**EVOO = Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

Optional Ingredients (What I Add):
1 ripe avocado cut into 1-in chunks
1/3 cup feta or parmesan cheese (or more... I can always add more cheese!)
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes (adds great color to the salad)

Preparation:

Trimmed and striped

Trim the ends off of the cucumber and stripe the waxy skin lengthwise with a vegetable peeler.

Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise, and then cut each half into small half-moons.

Drained hearts of palm

Drain and rinse the hearts of palm and cut into 1 inch diagonal pieces.

Combine the hearts of palm, cucumbers, red onions, parsley, salt & pepper in a large bowl and toss gently, being careful not to break up the hearts of palm.

Mixed cucumbers and red onions

You can easily vary the amount of hearts of palm and onions to your liking; I typically overload on the meaty hearts of palm and do a little less onions.

This salad is also great because you can add so many delectable salad treats to it. It's a great base salad; A and I often add chopped avocado, feta or parmesan cheese, and cherry tomatoes (halved). You can choose to leave out the lettuce and have a more summery side salad or appetizer. I like to make it into a main course by adding the lettuce.