When I was 18 I lived with a French family in DC for a while. I was very surprised that they ate salad after the main course. Their cook was a young Algerian man who had been in their employ since they lived in Algeria.
We all loved his salads. Just iceberg lettuce that he swung around in a pillowcase, good olive oil. Five of us eating those salads, I’ve forgotten how many heads of lettuce were bought each week.
I do prefer our system of eating a salad first.
One of my good friends (who is American) married an italian a few years ago, and one of the points of “negotiation” regarding the reception dinner was that salad had to be served after the steak / fish.
So it was, and a murmur circulated through the room as it came around (mmm… Italian… right…) 
Arugula and tomato salad today with giant gougeres “croutons”.
I marinated the tomato in sherry vinegar with a pinch of sugar and salt for a while, and then used the exuded juices to dress the arugula along with olive oil.
Yum
The end of the arugula!
A very lemony salad dresses with TJs lemon pesto, lemon juice, grape seed oil), roasted butternut squash, and grilled cheese “croutons”.
This looks fantastic!
I know you’re talking about the “croutons” 
Yes, but the whole plate, as well. I’m a salad lover, a veg lover, a bread lover, and a cheese lover, so what’s not to love here??! 
Having a big batch of roasted butternut squash and cauliflower around worked really well to bulk up my arugula salads this past week.
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Composed salad - romaine lettuce beside skillet-cooked shrimp surrounded by sliced mini cucumbers, with croutons and grape tomato accents. Thousand island dressing and shaved parm added at the table.
Mini cucumber bags were BOGO this week, 4 per bag. What was I thinking? 1 down, 7 to go…
I know … I bought a package of 6 baby organic Romaine at Costco and my daughter didn’t even want one of them.
I was going to make the zucchini carpaccio I normally make, but instead I used the same treatment and made a raw zucchini salad.
Thinly sliced zucchini (on the mandoline) with a dressing of lemon pesto thinned with champagne vinegar and olive oil, black pepper, and a generous shower of parmesan.
Fresh, crunchy, lemony, delicious!
Have you tried Chinese smashed cucumbers? I’m not a cucumber eater but I know @ChristinaM has a bunch of favorite cucumber sides including the smashed.
I’d suggest cucumber raita / tzatziki too, as draining the shredded cucumber will reduce volume by a bit.
And you could substitute them for zucchini in mucver / turkish zucchini fritters.
All I ever want is one!, maybe two!
I see a lot of variations on Caesar salad in your future 
(I know people like grilled romaine, but I don’t like the slippery texture cooked lettuce gets)
I don’t think I’d like hot, cooked lettuce, nor warm avocado.
I greatly dislike warm or hot avocado.
I’m with you on both!
There was a wonderful thai place near me that made a shrimp dish that was essentially dry-fried shrimp with lots of golden-fried garlic, served over a big plate of lettuce.
It was absolutely delicious, except for the lettuce right under the warm shrimp that got wilty. I imagine it could have been avoided by putting the shrimp in the center of the plate with lettuce all around instead of under.
I’m thinking about variations on caesar salad now 
— I think there was a chipotle version in an old COTM that sounded pretty good but I never tried.
Mustardy chicken salad & half an avocado, sprinkled with TJ’s smoky & hot chili powder. I don’t know what it is about the combination of avocado and chicken, but it’s fab. This would’ve been great on a sammich, but then I couldn’t have posted it here
Hot cream of avocado soup is surprisingly good. It’s puréed, so the texture isn’t slimy. I had something like this at a Salvadoran restaurant.
Some Central European cucumber soups are also hot. I don’t mind them.
I haven’t cooked lettuce.
I cook spinach, endive and arugula all the time.
