At dinnertime, my mother always placed a bottle of salad dressing on our kitchen table next to a bowl of pale iceberg lettuce pieces. Always Wish Bone. Always Italian.
I’m an unrepentant foodie. I love food. Cooking is a delight for me. I love phographing food. I love reading (and writing) about food. I love exploring international markets in search of new foods and new recipes. Travel, for me, was always as much about food as it was about anything else.
I didn’t grow up that way.
My mother, who grew up on a rural farm in the American South, did a lot of things very well, but she had a lot on her plate and had very little time (or money) for food and cooking. She did bake exceptional holiday pies, but our everyday fare was pretty plain–white bread, Campbell’s soups (tomato and mushroom), Wish Bone salads, and a mystery meal she called “goulash.”
When I grew up and started exploring the world of food, I was amazed by what was out there. (Brie! Who knew????) Homemade minestrone. (No way!) Artisanal breads.( You’ve got to be kidding me.) Salads that combined textures and interesting ingredients and that were dressed with homemade dressings. (Wow! Wow! Wow!)
Here is a recipe for a wonderful salad and homemade salad dressing. The dressing is a garlicky Caesar-wannabe. I clipped it out of Gourmet Magazine back in July of 1981. The recipe appeared in a column in Gourmet that printed reader recipes. In this case, it was Trudy Hamm Reid and she was submitting her husband’s recipe under the title Neil’s Romine Salad with Garlic Vinaigrette. Trudy was pretty proud of Neil’s recipe, saying that he made “the most fantastic salad.” I agree. Way to go, Neil!
Save RecipeIngredients
- Dressing
- 2 cloves of garlic (minced and crushed)
- 1 T. mayonnaise
- 1/2 C vegetable oil (I use grape seed or olive)
- 1/3 C. red wine vinegar
- Freshly-ground black pepper and salt to taste
- Salad
- 2 heads of romaine
- 3/4 C. freshly grated Parmesan or Romano
- Croutons for garnish
Instructions
- Mince and crush 2 cloves of garlic in a glass bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise and black pepper to taste. Whisk in oil and red wine vinegar. Season to taste with salt. Refrigerate for at least a day to allow the garlic flavor to mature.
- Wash, rip and dry romaine lettuce. Combine lettuce in a large salad bowl with 3/4 C. freshly-grated Parmesan cheese. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss the salad well.Sprinkle freshly-made croutons over the salad. Serve.
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