PITTSBURGH Dinner Salad

This round of Homegrown Gourmet is hosted by The Tempered Woman. She chose the theme of POTATOS. Hmm. I was unsure what I would make for the potato to represent our hometowns... I asked if sweet potatos, my fav, were allowed. Check. Finally it hit me. Potatos - fries - salad. Yes. Thats right. FRIES - SALAD. You see, in Pittsburgh, the standard salad is usually lettuce (iceberg) topped with fries and ranch. Yet people still say "Im on a diet, Im getting a salad" :)

I was introduced to this strange phenomenon when I moved to da Burgh for college, and it is the norm to ryan since he is from the area. I always felt this was a sign of the problem in America - even salads have greasy fries atop them.

So I submit to the honorable Chairwoman, a healthied-up Pittsburgh Salad.

The salad consists of: Fresh torn romaine and red leaf lettuce tossed with a little (about half the norm) Good Seasons Italian made with Raspberry Vinegar. I topped them with diced mango, avocado, sliced almonds.

Then I cooked 1 pound of shelled and deveined thawed shrimp, tossed in 1/4 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of orange juice plus a tablespoon of oil in a hot pan until just done.

As for the star - the POTATO:

I took a large sweet potato and peeled it, and chopped into fries. We both love sweet potatos: they are a super food and much healthier than regula potatos and the sweet flavor is just fab.

I cooked them in some olive oil in a hot pan until brown and crispy and done through. I let them sit on a paper towel to soak up some oil and then tossed with kosher salt.

They were the crowning glory to our dinner salads. Ryan was quite thrilled to see an homage to the Pittsburgh salad, reminiscent of his home. And I must say - I never cared for Pittsburgh Salads in their traditional format, but this was great! The color was beautiful and the potatos went really well with the other ingredients. I may do this next time I make this salad!