Dressing

Here's a little trip down memory lane. Early in my cooking career (ok, before I knew how to make anything besides a sandwich), I was living in Chicago, far from the amazing home-cooked meals I was used to. So basically, I was pining away for those familiar tastes, the ones I grew up with. And one of the things that I just couldn't get anywhere else is the salad dressing my mom makes. So I got motivated. I called to get the recipe, wrote it down, and went to the store to buy the ingredients for the dressing and the salad it was going to accompany. I followed the instructions, and it looked pretty good, just the way it was supposed to. Then I tasted it...and there was something very wrong. My roomies at the time agreed, and there was nothing to do but throw it away (mind you, I was a starving college student at the time, so throwing stuff away was not taken lightly). It had to go, no getting around it.

So for many years after this, I was petrified to try and make it again. Worried that I would yet again fail and never be able to replicate this awesome-ness that I love so much. Salads would never be the same. But I eventually got over this apocalyptic mind-frame, and have successfully created this numerous times. To this day, I have no idea what I did wrong. The recipe is so simple, how could I fuck it up so royally?

There's probably a moral to this story, but I'm not really into that whole moral thing. Perhaps, "shit happens" would be most apt?

Mom's Salad Dressing

large bouquet of parsley, chopped (probably about 5 or 6 tbsp)
5 scallions, both white and green parts, chopped
1 tbsp salt
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 tbsp mustard
approximately 1 1/2 c olive oil

Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil in a plastic container. I use the medium size plastic take-out container, you know the one.

Mix together (this should form a sort of chunky paste, sounds appetizing, no?)

Let the mixture sit until the salad is ready, then fill the container with olive oil.

Blend with a fork and toss with salad.

Note: this makes a lot, enough for many salads, but keeps nicely in the fridge. The oil will congeal, but if you stir it up with a fork it becomes liquid again pretty quickly. Also, this is a pretty rich dressing so make sure not to over-dress, no one likes a soggy salad!