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If you tuned in to last week's From the Farm, you may have read the section about the (rare) six-day get-away that Kyle and I enjoyed for his veterinary conference. Rather than stay in dowtown St. Louis for the week, we opted to rent a home in a quaint Illinois suburb, about 20 minutes from the city. Since we had access to a full kitchen and I like to cook, we planned to eat the majority of our meals at the home, rather than eat out. So, I packed a full cooler of meats, eggs, produce and such from home (including some fabulous Christopher Farm greens) and bought the rest once at our destination. Knowing that I would not need a full bottle of salad dressing during our time away, I figured I would just 'whip some up' as I needed it. On the first night that we had salad, I had forgotten about my earlier decision to do this; but, after a quick scan of what I had on-hand, I was able to make do and came up with what I now fondly call my 'Illinois Italian' salad dressing. If you are ever in a pinch (or just want to enjoy a simple dressing), give it a try. Ingredients
- ~3 TBSP olive oil
- juice of half a lemon
- splash of vinegar, ~ 1 TBSP (the home had plain white vinegar, so that is what I used)
- small squirt of mustard (~3/4 tsp); the home had regular yellow mustard available, but Dijon would also be good
- few cranks of fresh ground black pepper
- kosher salt, to taste
- small pinch of ground oregano (this was in the home's spice cabinet and even though it looked like it had been there a long time, it still had good flavor)
DirectionsWhisk all ingredients together in a small bowl; let sit for 5 to 10 minutes while making the rest of your salad/dinner. Note: this made about a quarter-cup of dressing, which was the right amount for me to have on two salads.
