Secrets of the Best Chefs

According to Dieterle, this salad isn’t worth making if you can’t

get fresh hearts of palm. (“I don’t used canned foods, except for

tomatoes,” he told me.) Unfortunately, fresh hearts of palm aren’t

so easy to find. So, don’t tell him I said this, but I think this salad

is still worth making if all you can find is the canned stuff. With

the slightly sour hearts of palm, the sweet mango (Harold uses a

Champagne mango), and the crunchy-sweet macadamia nuts, it’s a

salad I go back to again and again.

FOR THE DRESSING

¼ cup white wine or champagne vinegar

1 shallot, finely chopped

½ to ¾ cup neutral oil (such as vegetable or grapeseed)

Salt and pepper

FOR THE SALAD

1 head Bibb lettuce, leaves separated, washed*, and spun dry

in a salad spinner

½ cup hearts of palm (from a can, unless you can find them

fresh), sliced into thin coins

1 mango, peeled, sliced from the pit, and cut into small

chunks

½ cup macadamia nuts, toasted in a dry skillet and then

coarsely chopped

¼ cup Dieterle’s holy trinity (a mixture of minced chives,

shallots, and parsley)