The Best Salad Dressing Ever

I used to think, back before I went to college, that salad was a side dish. That wimpy, watery iceberg lettuce and dried out carrots, miniature croutons and shredded American cheese, mealy tomato cubes and neon-orange French dressing were as good as salad got.

I was so wrong. See, there's this place in Berkeley called Cafe Intermezzo. Or there was that place, anyways. And they served the best most amazing giant salads ever. Bigger than your head, with mounds of almost fluffy red and green leaf lettuce, the thinnest of sliced cucumbers, brilliantly purple red cabbage, bite-sized cherry tomatos, crunchy crouton discs, half an avocado just plopped on there, kidney and garbanzo beans, bright orange carrot slices, and if you wanted them, sprouts (I never did). Served with a hunk of just-made honey whole-wheat sunflower bread, the "Veggie Delight" was breathtaking before the dressing was added.

Photo by Micah L

But then came the Poppy Seed dressing. A little tangy, a little sweet, a lot something I could never quite figure out. It was addicting...dip your bread in it, let the croutons soak some up, always be sure to toss your salad (haha) around a lot to get all the dressing on there. It turned a great salad into something worthy of being on a "top ten meals of your life" list.

Every time I was nearby, I popped into Cafe Intermezzo and ordered a Veggie Delight with Poppy Seed Dressing. Even when I wasn't nearby, I'd more-than-occasionally head over to pick up a salad to go, driving 30 minutes out of my way sometimes and never feeling like it wasn't worth it to have this amazing salad dressing. I'm not kidding, it's that good. None of that grocery store garbage compares. I don't even really LIKE other poppy seed dressings.

Photo by Henry S

And then, Intermezzo burned down. A little over a year and a half ago, my favorite restaurant burned down, and with it went the recipe for the best salad dressing ever. Ever since then, I've been trying to figure it out, experimenting with piles of ingredients and tweaking my recipe here and there. And finally, I think I've got it! Try this now. You won't regret it, I promise. In fact, you can come find me and yell at me if you don't like it.

Poppy Seed Dressing

(yes, I know the measurments are funny. My kid stole all my measuring cups except for the 1/5 cup & the 1/2 cup. Sorry.)

Ingredients (makes enough for 3 big-a** salads)

~1 tsp of grated yellow onion (I use a microplane)

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup mayonnaise

~1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/5 cup red wine vinegar

1/5 cup white sugar

1 tbsp poppy seeds

a blob of mustard

Directions

Add all ingredients into a jar or container with a tight lid. Shake it up. Pour over lettuce and other salad-y things. You'll be happy you did. I am, and now I get to have this deliciousness whenever I want. 

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I'm thankful today for early Christmas gifts, for my sweet and goofy students who made me giant cards of well wishes while I was gone, for the even sweeter but also more serious student who cleaned my room and reorganized my papers for me, for new headbands, and for comfy shoes.

Tangy Tomato Soup with Griddle Bread

For some reason, today was one of those days where I just desperately wanted some comfort food. This morning, I talked Ross into making some Swedish Pancakes, with fresh strawberry mush (what do you call it when you slice up some fruit, cook it with some sugar and a little water and lemon juice, and then spread it on stuff? It's not quite jam, but it's SO good!). And then after our very productive trip to Blick today, I needed noodles. Slurpy, saucy, long noodles. Know what I mean?

And now, here it is dinner time, and all I could think of to make was tomato soup. It just sounded so good. When I was a kid, we always had the Campbell's Cream of Tomato soup with grilled cheese. Now, I'm a broke-ass grownup, so I've learned to improvise, and actually made something that's even tastier! This tomato soup was thick, tangy, and tomato-ey. The bread was a deliciously crispy, chewy, slightly salty and so satisfying. Grown up comfort food, for sure.  And then I thought, well, Lynds, you've got a blog now, about life at your house and the stuff you get up to, right? So post your recipe! I even took a shot at some cute food photography...I'm no Pioneer Woman yet, but this ish is tasty, so go make it!

Tangy Tomato Soup with Griddle Bread

Soup Ingredients (serves 1)

1 can diced tomatoes (whichever flavor you've got...this would be good with Italian spices or chiles)
1/2 carrot
1/2 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp flour
1 cup vegetable broth (or a cube of bouillon in 1 cup water)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste
Your favorite hot sauce

Griddle Bread Ingredients (serves 1)

Bread

Lots of butter (the salted kind)

To make the soup:

1. Dice up the carrots, onions and garlic really small and throw them into a soup pot with 1 tbsp butter

2. Saute on medium heat for about 5 mins, until everything looks soft

3. Sprinkle the flour over the veggies, and saute for another minute or two

4. Pour in the broth and stir real fast, then add the tomatoes and the tomato paste

5. At this point, either grab your immersion blender (I have this one), or pour everything into your regular blender, and blend away. It's important to do it now, because your seasonings will be off if you do it later - all the tomatoes getting emulsified changes the flavor, in a good way.

6. Add salt (I use about 1 tsp, but I'm not huge on salty things), several dashes of pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice if you think it needs it, 5 dashes of hot sauce and the yogurt.

7. Mix it all up, let it cook til bubbly, then serve it with an extra dollop of yogurt.

To make the bread:

1. Butter a fat slice of bread, heavily
2. Microwave that sucker for about 10 seconds, just to get the butter a little melty
3. Place it butter-side down on a griddle or pan at medium high heat
4. When the first side gets all toasty and brown and crispy, flip it
5. Dunk the bread in the soup and be happy