Made with a handful of pantry staples, this quick and classic Italian dressing is perfect for all of your chopped salad needs! It comes together in no time and will last for at least two weeks in the fridge. It’s great on pasta salad, too.
More than any other time of the year, this one feels the most chaotic, an endless stream of end-of-year school parties, graduations, field days, ice cream socials, weekend tournaments, and moving-up ceremonies … to high school! 😢. When I bump into friends dashing through the grocery store, I get the sense the feeling is shared.
Often I leave the house at 3:45 in the afternoon and don’t return till 8, and, well, if I haven’t planned dinner before departing, it will mean Jersey Mike’s or Chipotle for dinner. It could be worse, but it’s not ideal either.
Determined to make it through this week without serving a single dinner in the car, I took some time over the weekend to prep: I made a batch of these slow-cooker chickpeas (no soaking, so good), and I whisked up a batch of the Italian dressing recipe included here. Twice this week, I prepped the ingredients for a big chopped salad and pulled the dressing from the fridge before heading out for afternoon activities. Upon returning home, I tossed everything together, and dinner was served.
It was such a reminder that a little prep goes a long way and more specifically: Is there anything better than having a batch of homemade salad dressing on hand? It feels like such a godsend at the dinner hour.
This Italian dressing recipe and the salad pictured above comes from my cookbook Pizza Night . The dressing is similar to this 5-Ingredient Greek Salad Dressing recipe in that it’s an emulsion of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and extra-virgin olive oil but this one also includes some fresh lemon juice, a little oregano, and garlic. It’s slightly thinner and sharper than the Greek dressing, but still palatable for the youngins. My children, who don’t love very sharp dressings, love this chopped salad.
The dressing yields enough for three if not more large salads, which I find satisfying and filling, and everything I want to eat right now. I hope you’ll agree.
PS: A few more favorite dressings:
- 5-Ingredient Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- All-Purpose Lemon Vinaigrette
- Large-Batch Tahini Dressing
- Large-Batch Cashew Dressing
- Large-Batch Shallot Vinaigrette
How to Make Italian Dressing, Step by Step
Gather your ingredients: olive oil, vinegar, mustard, lemon, garlic, oregano, salt, and sugar.
Measure everything out…
… then combine everything with the exception of the olive oil into a medium bowl. You’ll want to finely mince the garlic or grate it using a Microplane.
Whisk those ingredients together…
… then stream in the olive oil while whisking constantly.
Transfer to a storage vessel and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Use on your favorite chopped salad (see recipe box).
From my book, Pizza Night .
Description
From my cookbook Pizza Night, this classic Italian dressing is perfect for all of your chopped salad needs. It takes no time to whisk together and yields enough for at least 3 large salads. Don’t be afraid to double it, too.
If you’d like to make the chopped salad pictured in the post above, you’ll need:
- 1 head romaine lettuce, finely sliced
- ½ head radicchio, optional, finely sliced
- 1½ cups cooked or canned chickpeas (from a 16-ounce can), drained and rinsed
- 2-3 ounces salami, thinly sliced
- 1 small red onion, finely sliced
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch (or smaller) pieces (about 1 cup)
- 1 cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
- ½ cup cubed or thinly sliced provolone cheese (2 to 3 ounces)
- ½ cup wrinkly black oil-cured olives or olive of choice or thinly sliced pepperoncini
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Flaky sea salt
Toss everything in a large bowl with Italian dressing to taste.
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced or grated on a Microplane
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- ¾ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or half a s much Morton or fine sea salt)
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
In a medium bowl, whisk together the mustard, oregano, garlic, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, and salt. Stream in the olive oil, whisking constantly until the dressing is emulsified. Transfer to a storage jar and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dressing
- Method: Whisk
- Cuisine: American, Italian
Description
From my cookbook Pizza Night, this classic Italian dressing is perfect for all of your chopped salad needs. It takes no time to whisk together and yields enough for at least 3 large salads. Don’t be afraid to double it, too.
If you’d like to make the chopped salad pictured in the post above, you’ll need:
- 1 head romaine lettuce, finely sliced
- ½ head radicchio, optional, finely sliced
- 1½ cups cooked or canned chickpeas (from a 16-ounce can), drained and rinsed
- 2-3 ounces salami, thinly sliced
- 1 small red onion, finely sliced
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch (or smaller) pieces (about 1 cup)
- 1 cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
- ½ cup cubed or thinly sliced provolone cheese (2 to 3 ounces)
- ½ cup wrinkly black oil-cured olives or olive of choice or thinly sliced pepperoncini
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Flaky sea salt
Toss everything in a large bowl with Italian dressing to taste.
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced or grated on a Microplane
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- ¾ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or half a s much Morton or fine sea salt)
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
In a medium bowl, whisk together the mustard, oregano, garlic, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, and salt. Stream in the olive oil, whisking constantly until the dressing is emulsified. Transfer to a storage jar and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dressing
- Method: Whisk
- Cuisine: American, Italian
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2024/06/07/quick-classic-italian-dressing/
Lightly lemony, slightly sweet, this iced tea is perfection. The recipe hails from an old cookbook, and to me it’s the very best there is, the recipe you will turn to when you are entertaining or when you simply need something incredibly quenching on a hot summer day.
A few weeks ago, I stopped by my aunt and uncle’s house in Vermont en route home from a soccer tournament with my daughters. It was a Sunday, late in the afternoon, and we couldn’t stay long, so we made the most of it, sliding into stools around their big farmhouse table, ready to receive all the nourishment time would allow.
Within minutes of arriving, my aunt had toasted us thick slices of peasant bread and slathered them with butter. As we savored our toast, she poured us glasses of homemade iced tea and pushed plates of strawberries and apricots our way. With two dogs lounging at our feet, we wished we could stay forever.
She sent us off each with a sugar cone piled high with scoops of vanilla ice cream, and as we drove home, my youngest, Tig, asked when we could make the iced tea again. I had first made it with her several summers ago, after she returned from my parents’ house raving about it. The recipe comes from the Prouts Neck Cookbook , the source of dozens of recipes many of the women in my family relied on for years.
This past Monday, I made the iced tea with Tig, who, one week into summer break, already seems bored. I enlisted her to squeeze the lemons and sent her out back to cut some mint, the only herb I can’t kill. Twenty minutes later, the tea was done, chilling in the fridge, and about an hour later, we were ladling it into ice-filled glasses and relishing its quenching abilities.
Every time I make this tea, I wonder why I don’t make it more often as it is so very good: lightly lemony, slightly sweet, and incredibly refreshing. If you are expecting company this week for a July Fourth gathering or planning a future summer get-together, I can’t recommend it enough.
Wren snuggling with sweet Leto and Homer (who is recovering from surgery):
The Prouts Neck Cookbook:
My grandmother’s handwritten recipe… isn’t her writing beautiful?
How to Make Iced Tea, Step by Step
First, juice some lemons. You’ll need 2/3 cup.
Enlist the help of anyone lurking around your kitchen.
Then gather some mint:
Place the mint and 5 tea bags in a large vessel (ideally a pitcher large enough to hold roughly 9 cups of liquid):
Add 1 cup sugar (see notes in the recipe if you wish to add less):
Then cover with 4 cups of boiling water and let steep for 10 minutes:
After 10 minutes, remove the mint and tea bags…
… then add 4 cups cold water plus the fresh lemon juice:
Serve over ice and enjoy!
I really need a pitcher!
But a large vessel + a ladle works fine:
So refreshing!
These large ice cube molds are fun, too.
Description
From the Prouts Neck Cookbook, in which it is called Mrs. Bostwick’s Iced Tea.
Notes:
Tea: I have used Lipton black tea bags and other various kinds. My aunt uses Earl Grey. My mother uses Yorkshire Red or Lipton Yellow Label.
Sugar: This is a recipe I have never tinkered with. It might appear to be a lot of sugar, but it does not taste too sweet (in my opinion). If you do the math it’s roughly 1 tablespoon of sugar for every 1/2 cup of tea. If this seems like too much for you, hold back some of the sugar from the start, and add it in to taste at the end.
5 black tea bags, see notes above
a few sprigs of mint
1 cup of sugar, see notes above
4 cups boiling water
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
4 cups cold water
- Place the tea bags, mint, and sugar in a large pitcher or vessel (able to hold 9 cups). Pour the boiling water over the top and let steep for 10 minutes.
- Remove the mint and tea bags, squeezing the bags to extract the liquid.
- Add the lemon juice and cold water.
- Chill until ready to serve. Serve over ice and garnish with more mint or lemon if you wish.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Drink
- Cuisine: Amerian
