Ensalada De Palmitos (Hearts of Palm Salad)

NcMysteryShopper's Note:

I love when I get a salad at a restaurant that is garnished with Hearts of Palm. I often see the cans in the grocery store and am tempted to grab one, but never do for fear that I wont use it. This is a typical salad, side dish or appetizer from Central America that uses this wonderful ingredient. Since the absorbency of the hearts of palm varies from batch to batch you may need more or less of the olive oil. If making as a salad spoon on top a bed of mixed greens.

• Total Time: 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 (28 ounce) can hearts of palm or 2 (14 ounce) cans hearts of palm, drained
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus or minus, see description)
• 1 large vine-ripened tomato, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup scallion, finely chopped (whites of the scallion)
• 1 dash salt (optional)
• mixed greens (optional)

Directions:

1. Using a food processor, puree the garlic into a paste. Add hearts of palm and process to a course purée. With the machine on, add oil in a thin stream until mixture is a velvety purée.
2. Transfer the purée to a serving bowl and stir in tomatoes and scallions. Adjust salt if needed.
3. Let sit at room temperature and serve within an hour. If topping salad greens chill mixture in refrigerator.

Reviews

[Ilysse]

I was surprised at my husband's reaction to this. He LOVED it. I added a little bit of parmesan cheese and a little extra olive oil to make it creamy. It made A LOT of sauce for only 1 tomato. I ended up cutting up 3 tomatoes (medium-large) and still felt like there was too much sauce. I may try chopping some of the heart of palm in the future; just to give it some more texture. My husband hates hearts of palm but loved this salad. We ate it with fish tacos and he even loved it on his tortilla chips. Great recipe. I'll be making this again and again.

[Engrossed]

OUTSTANDING! TANGY and GARLICY. Zaar needs more hearts of palm recipes...I've just discovered them and if you haven't tried them yet and you like artichoke hearts you really need to try them. This was very easy to make with my immersion blender in a small bowl. I halved the recipe but used 2 garlic cloves. I ate it over mixed greens but could see it as a veggie dip or pita dip or even as a dressing for potato salad! I think I'll try it with potato salad and will post the recipe if all goes well and give you credit of course!

[Sharon123]

Yum! What a nice change of pace from my usual salad dressing! I served this on some shredded iceberg lettuce. I halved the recipe. Thanks Cheryl, great recipe!