Recipes Revisited 3: Summer Salads from Amber and Beth

My family eats a lot of salad. We do not buy salad dressing, since once you streamline the process, it’s just as easy to make it yourself.

For ease, I make the dressing directly in the salad bowl. I put in a generous tablespoon of good quality olive oil per person, a scant tablespoon of vinegar—usually apple cider vinegar, but any kind will work—also per person. Add a generous pinch of salt and whisk to emulsify. Then (this is the special part) thinly shave red onion (or shallots, or, less ideally, white onion), and let sit for at least ten minutes. The salt and vinegar mellow the onion, while the onion sweetens the dressing.

If you are looking for something to do to keep you occupied while your onions marinate, dice up a slice of bread, throw it on some tinfoil with a generous drizzle of olive oil. Squeeze the bread to soak up the oil like a sponge. Toast in your toaster oven. Now you have fresh croutons!

Toss everything together with your preferred lettuces. My recipe is customizable; this time of year, I tend to throw in whatever herbs haven’t yet bolted in my garden, plus cucumbers and tomatoes. Add pepitas or walnuts, blue or parmesan cheese, if you like. If it’s a meal, top with a 7-minute boiled egg and sop up the yolk with the croutons.

• 1 5 ounce can of tuna
• 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice
• 1/2 an apple chopped into small pieces
• 1 to 2 stalks of celery chopped fine
• Cilantro—as much as you like
• Red onions to taste
• 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons of balsamic dressing

I mash the lemon juice into the tuna, then add the apple, celery, red onions, and cilantro. Adjust mayonnaise amount to suit your taste.