A good example of strong, sharp flavors, a lovely main-dish salad made from items I had on hand. Yes, I work from home and so could take the time to assemble this on the spot, but it could easily be adapted to taking to work: all the non-lettuce, non-crouton items mixed with the dressing, with the lettuce in one baggie and the croutons in another, all tucked inside a lidded plastic bowl that could wait inside the fridge until lunchtime and then be mixed together. This is sort of halfway between a Greek salad and a salade Niçoise. I was watching a Greek cooking show last night and realized that I could put something very similar together:
a chopped hard-boiled egg (with some of the white discarded as I don’t like the whites)
part of a single-serving can of solid white tuna
some capers, rinsed off briefly
some nice Kalamata olives, chopped (I just bought these at King Sooper’s olive bar)
sliced red onions
chopped sun-dried tomatoes (I have a big jar of these from Costco sitting in the fridge)
sliced English cucumbers (I had bought a three-pack of these to use for a reception on Friday and then ran out of time to prep them, so I need to use them up)
my signature creamy Italian dressing
lettuce (I had some green leaf lettuce already washed and torn up)
homemade croutons (I usually have some of these in the freezer)
Try something similar and see what you think!