Here’s a favorite salad of mine. It’s a base of butter lettuce, and as it happened I had splurged and got some prosciutto and fresh mozzarella for my protein. A few black olives and my extra fancy Italian dressing (when I’m ambitious) made this a very indulgent meal!
Italian dressing recipe (4 servings):
Press 4 cloves garlic into mortar and pestle, add 1 tsp unground salt; process until it forms a paste. Add 2 TB sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil and grind some more to mix the oil in. Add 2 TB fresh basil, 2 TB fresh parsley, about 3 fresh rosemary needles and 4 fresh thyme leaves and grind until it’s a relatively homogenous paste (rosemary just has to be broken in half, not ground all the way up).
Scrape into pint-size jar and add 1 cup extra virgin olive oil right away to let the flavors infuse into the oil before continuining.
Grate about 1/4 cup of the real Parmigiano-Reggiano and add to jar. Add 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 1 tsp dry oregano, 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cap and store on counter so flavors will continue to infuse.
