NICE CHOPS THE BEST WAYS TO CREATE FLAVORFUL SALADS.

Byline: Natalie Haughton Food Editor

Who doesn't love a good chopped salad?

There are so many ingredient options that can be chopped into bits and thrown together for a delicious meal.

The chopped salad started as a Los Angeles institution almost 50 years ago - and it's as popular today, in many updated, new-fangeled combinations, as when the late Jean Leon, owner and founder of La Scala restaurant introduced it in the '50s.

Although the Beverly Hills restaurant has changed locations a few times over the years, the original chopped salad, known as the Leon Gourmet Salad, hasn't changed a bit. Gigi Leon, Jean's daughter and owner of La Scala, Beverly Hills and La Scala Presto, Brentwood, says her dad invented the chopped salad. You can still order it as an appetizer or light entree at lunch or dinner.

``We sell more chopped salads than anything else at lunch,'' she notes.

In the beginning, many diners and celebrities complained that the pieces of cheese and salami were too long and too difficult to eat - and soon the gourmet version morphed into the Leon Chopped Salad with the iceberg lettuce, a little romaine, Genoa salami, mozzarella cheese and canned garbanzo beans finely chopped. Easier to eat, this version took off in the '60s.

Today, diners customize the salad, making their own designer versions by adding chopped tomatoes, basil, roasted red peppers, cucumbers, capers, canned tuna (flaked on top of the salad) and substituting turkey for salami.

``Chopped salads are popular and still around because they taste good,'' says Larry Flax, co-founder and co-CEO, California Pizza Kitchen, adding that when you chop up a salad, you get even distribution of the ingredients and dressing - and all the flavors in each forkful.

Based on chopped iceberg lettuce (which has fallen in and out of favor over the years but continues to hang on due to its crispness and sturdy texture), the salads can be simple or complex, depending on the number of ingredients and flavors added.

``The beauty of chopped salads is that you can pretty much go anywhere with them,'' adds Flax. ``Chopped lettuce is a potential canvas for seasonal ingredients and flavors.''

You can play with chopped salads and transform them according to what strikes your fancy, he adds.

``Chopped salads are kind of a guilty pleasure, maybe because they are old school,'' says Mark Peel, chef/owner of Los Angeles' Campanile restaurant, who features them every few months as a lunch entree selection.

Peel says that a variety of flavors and textures are important - items such as garbanzo beans, diced radicchio, Belgian endive (for contrast of flavors, colors), diced, firm ripe tomatoes (to avoid an overly juicy, messy and diluted salad), fresh soy beans, grilled corn kernels, diced red onion and julienned strips provolone, capocolla or salami - and some good Greek oregano dressing.

``Pick and choose, and limit yourself to six or eight ingredients, including the lettuce. You can't have everything with intense flavor - or the salad gets too strong.''

Chop everything by hand, Peel advises, and not too fine.

``Ingredients should be the size of the fingernail on your pinkie finger. If ingredients are too fine, the salad looks like a compost heap,'' he says.

Flax, who dabbles in the kitchen and develops the Pizza Kitchen's recipes with his partner, Rick Rosenfield, advises using a combination of three-quarters iceberg lettuce to one-quarter romaine because the romaine tends to bruise and won't hold up as well as the more sturdy iceberg.

``The dressing - vinaigrette, blue cheese, peanut, cilantro, garden herb ranch, etc. - is the ultimate secret to the taste of the salad,'' adds Flax.

Really mix the dressing well with a wire whisk, advises Leon.

While California Pizza Kitchen opened with an original chopped on the menu in 1985, most popular on the menu now is the BBQ chicken chopped, a takeoff of the BBQ chicken pizza flavors. Other offerings today also include a smoked bacon and Gorgonzola chopped, a CPK club and the newest Thai crunch, introduced in June. The Thai variation sports shredded napa and red cabbages, grilled chicken breast, julienned cucumbers and carrots, edamame, green onions, crispy wontons and rice sticks, and lime-cilantro and Thai peanut dressings.

Natalie Haughton, [phone]

natalie.haughton(at)dailynews.com

CHOPPED SALAD LA SCALA STYLE

This is a version similar to the Leon Chopped Salad that's been on the menu at La Scala in Beverly Hills for more than 40 years. Make your own designer version by adding whatever chopped meats, cheeses and vegetables strike your fancy.

1 head iceberg lettuce, rinsed and finely chopped

1/3 head romaine lettuce, rinsed and finely chopped

1/4 pound Italian salami, julienned

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 (15 1/2-ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and well-drained

Red Wine Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Combine lettuces, salami, cheese and beans in salad bowl. Toss with amount Red Wine Vinaigrette desired. Garnish with chopped tomatoes and basil, if desired.

RED WINE VINAIGRETTE: Whisk together until well blended 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 2 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon dry mustard OR 3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard and salt and pepper to taste.

BBQ CHICKEN CHOPPED

This is one of the most popular salads at California Pizza Kitchen. We've taken the liberty to use bottled dressing and prepared tortilla chips; the restaurant makes its own.

1/2 head iceberg lettuce, cut into 1/8-inch strips

1/2 head romaine lettuce leaves, cut in 1/8-inch strips

1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

1 pound jicama, cut into strips

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese 

1 cup rinsed and drained canned black beans

1 cup drained canned corn kernels

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 to 1 1/2 cups (OR more OR less to taste) bottled ranch house dressing

Tortilla chips OR strips

2 pounds tomatoes, cored and diced

3 cups diced grilled chicken breast

3/4 cup bottled sweet-and-spicy barbecue sauce

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

In a large mixing bowl, toss together lettuces, basil, jicama, cheese, beans, corn, cilantro, dressing and some crumbled tortilla chips or strips. Divide salad evenly among 4 chilled serving plates. Surround each salad with diced tomatoes and some tortilla strips. Top each salad with chicken pieces mixed with 1/4 cup barbecue sauce. Drizzle remaining 1/2 cup barbecue sauce over chicken. Garnish with green onions and a lime wedge. Makes 4 main-course or 8 appetizer servings.

Adapted from a recipe shared by California Pizza Kitchen.

CHOPPED VEGETABLE SALAD

This is a great way to use up leftover vegetables - and it's beautiful, too.

1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 1 1/2 ears)

1/2 pound green beans, tips and strings removed, cut into 1/4-inch lengths

1 kohlrabi OR large turnip, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch julienne 

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2x1/4-inch julienne

1/2 pound asparagus, cut into 1-inch diagonal pieces (optional)

6 new potatoes, diced

4 celery stalks, cut into 2x1/4-inch julienne

5 plum tomatoes, halved, seeded and diced

1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped

2 firm small avocados, peeled and diced

4 ounces prosciutto, cut into strips (about 8 slices)

Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

1/4 cup chopped fresh chives 

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Torn lettuce (optional)

In a large pot of boiling salted water, blanch corn, beans, kohlrabi, carrots and asparagus, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge into ice water.

In another pot, boil potatoes in salted water to cover until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Arrange individual vegetables in rows on a serving platter (this way, children can pick and choose the vegetables they want to eat) with strips of prosciutto in center. Drizzle with Vinaigrette and sprinkle with chives and parsley OR toss vegetables with a small amount of torn lettuce and vinaigrette in a large bowl. Makes 6 servings.

VINAIGRETTE: In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, 1 teaspoon coarse salt and 2 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper. Slowly whisk in 1 1/4 cups olive oil. Set aside. (The vinaigrette may be made 2 or 3 days ahead, covered, and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature and shake before using.)

From ``Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton Cook at Home.''

CHOPPED SALAD

This salad, a Daily News replica version of one from Maggiano's restaurant (Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Costa Mesa and other locations around the country), is one of their signature dishes - and it's terrific. What makes it different from some of its counterparts is crisp pieces of cooked prosciutto along with avocado pieces and crumbled blue cheese. Our dressing facsimile, zipped up with Dijon mustard, tastes like a dead ringer for the original.

Replica Dressing (recipe follows)

8 cups packed chopped iceberg lettuce

2 large tomatoes, seeded and diced

2 green onions, chopped

1 large ripe avocado, peeled and diced

1/3 cup chopped crisp-cooked prosciutto OR bacon

2/3 cup crumbled Danish blue cheese 

Prepare Replica Dressing and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, avocado and 3/4 of prosciutto and 3/4 of blue cheese. Add dressing and toss to evenly coat. Place salad on a platter and sprinkle top with remaining prosciutto and blue cheese. Makes 3 to 4 servings.

REPLICA DRESSING: In a 1-cup glass measuring cup, whisk together 1/4 cup vegetable oil (NOT olive oil), 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar, 3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard, dash garlic pepper and few dashes salad seasoning. Whisk until well blended. Makes about 1/3 cup dressing, enough for recipe above. If making in advance, refrigerate, covered, until serving time (can be made a day or two in advance of serving, if desired).

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Chop, chop

Salads with endless possibilities make the cut

Photo Illustration by Sharon Kaplan and Gus Ruelas

(2 -- color) CHOPPED SALAD LA SCALA STYLE

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

Photographed at La Scala, Beverly Hills

(3 -- color) California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ chicken chopped salad