Salad Dressing Recipes -- The Thread That Connects Every Version of Me

Week 368. Spring 2023. I am 40 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like fresh herbs and possibility and this is my life. This is the life I built.

Tom made his trout on Friday, the way he does every Friday, and the fish was perfect, and the kitchen smelled like lemon and capers, and I sat at the table and ate fish that my partner caught and cooked and served, and the being-served is still a wonder after all these years.

Mason is 12 and reading everything he can find and examining the world under a microscope with the intensity of a tenured researcher.

Lily is 10 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made garden salad with vinaigrette this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

The garden salad I made this week wasn’t remarkable — it didn’t need to be. After 368 weeks of cooking through cancer and divorce and new love and kids growing up fast, the quiet act of whisking a vinaigrette felt like exactly the right thing: humble, steady, mine. These salad dressing recipes are the kind I come back to again and again, because some food isn’t meant to dazzle — it’s meant to remind you that you’re still here, still feeding people, still threading one week to the next.

Salad Dressing Recipes

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 teaspoon fresh, finely chopped)
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine base ingredients. In a small bowl or mason jar, combine the red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, honey, oregano, salt, and pepper. Stir or shake to blend.
2. Emulsify the dressing. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking constantly, or seal the jar and shake vigorously for 30 seconds, until the dressing is cohesive and slightly thickened.
3. Taste and adjust. Taste the dressing and adjust seasoning — add more vinegar for brightness, more honey for balance, or more salt as needed.
4. Add fresh herbs. Stir in the fresh parsley if using for a garden-fresh finish.
5. Dress your salad. Toss with your favorite garden salad of mixed greens, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and red onion. Serve immediately or store the dressing in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Shake well before each use.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 125 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 1g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 75mg