An easy salad my Mom made during her working years included a head of iceberg lettuce, a few tomatoes, slice cucumber then a drizzle of her ‘homemade’ dressing, her one concession to processed foods: 1/4 cup catsup & 1/4 cup mayonnaise. She said this was a World War II recipe which she called ‘Poor Man’s French Dressing.’
My college French teacher, Rosine Tanenbaum, helped me transcend Mom’s basic make-it-yourself ho-hum dressing into the sublime. I enrolled at the University of North Dakota in 1976, student population: 8,500. It was common for professors to invite their students to potlucks and parties. It was there I tasted Rosine's salad dressing. Long after my memory of French verbs faded, or nursery songs, her sweet lesson on genuine French salad dressing is a constant in our house.
Salad for two using approximately 8 oz. of lettuce leaves:
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon champagne, sherry or
balsamic vinegar
A slice or two of a small clove garlic, minced
½ to 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
pinch of basil or other fresh herb
Whisk these five ingredients until the olive oil looks cloudy. Pour onto lettuce leaves. Rosine insisted one must toss the dressing at least 100 times for it to be a proper French dressing. I often fudge on this and the herb part. You cannot omit anything else otherwise it will disappoint.
With Rosine’s dressing you are no longer faced with ingredients you cannot pronounce or visualize, or the frustration of trying to squeak out the last tablespoon of expensive dressing from skinny bottles.
Bon Appetit!
Time: About two minutes.
Cost: depending on quality of olive oil and vinegar—5 cents to 35 cents for two servings.
Store Bought Cost: an 8 oz. bottle of salad dressing: $1.50 to $6, approximately 50 cents to $2.00 for two servings, not factoring in old half empty bottles tossed into the trash. You never toss Rosine’s for it’s fresh each time.
Potential savings: For two salads/week $1 - $4.00. Times 52 weeks = $52 - $208 .
Ingredients:
Olive oil: If you get keen on making this dressing you may consider spending what you save on salad dressings on good olive oil, Lucini Organic Premium Select Extra Virgin Olive oil, from Whole Foods.
Vinegar: I use Trader Joe’s White balsamic vinegar from Modena or, at present, Lucini Dark Cherry Balsamic vinegar from Whole Foods.
Garlic: About 95% of all garlic sold in the USA is grown in China. I only purchase American grown garlic, available at Whole Foods for $4.99 per pound. The average bulb weighs about 2-3 oz. so that doesn’t break the bank.
Mustard: I use Maille Dijon mustard from France, a nearly 2 lb. jar at William Sonoma cost a whopping $14 but lasts a long time plus it’s great for other sauces and superb on deli sandwiches. More often as not I now settle for Grey Poupon from Costco.
