A really good salad is hard to beat. I didn’t share a recipe for the salad above, but the ingredients are: spinach, hard-boiled egg, cucumber, sliced carrots, kidney beans, and fresh uncooked corn. My focus today is on the salad dressing.

I have never been a fan of bottled salad dressings. I’m sure there may be some good ones available, but it’s so easy to make your own, fresh, at home! My #1 favorite salad dressing is actually just extra virgin olive oil, lemon, sea salt and pepper. I love the clean flavor. However, this Sweet & Sour Celery Seed Salad Dressing is right up there with all my favorites like Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing, and Sesame Dressing. I think what I like most about this salad dressing is the flavor of the celery seeds. The flavor is so prominent that I felt I had to put them in the title of the dressing. I’m a big lover of celery seeds and use them whenever I can; in my egg salad, potato salad, deviled eggs, soups, etc. They are so flavorful. Are you familiar with celery seeds? If not, I hope you’ll get some and give my salad dressing a try.  

Makes 2 cups

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup to 3/4 cup of Sugar (Honey or Agave work, too)
1 Tbsp Celery Seed
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Dry Mustard
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup Olive Oil

METHOD
In a large bowl mix together the sugar, celery seed, paprika, dry mustard, and salt.
Add in the apple cider vinegar and still until the sugar is dissolved.
Using a whisk add the olive oil a little at a time, whisking continuously until it emulsifies.
Delicious served over spinach salad, or any fresh green salad.

NOTES:
I have listed the sugar as 1/4 cup to 3/4 cup, depending upon how sweet or tart you like your dressing. You can start with less sugar, and add more as desired.

Refrigerate dressing – lasts up to 3 weeks.

I made this salad last night and I can’t stop thinking about how delicious it was. The crisp, cold iceberg lettuce, with the creamy blue cheese dressing and the saltiness of the pancetta… yum!

I think what makes it great is that the lettuce should be super crisp and super cold. It makes all the difference.

This salad serves 2.

INGREDIENTS
1 head iceberg lettuce
1 tomato, small diced
4 pieces of pancetta, fried
salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

For Dressing:
1/2 cup blue cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup milk
4 squirts of Worcestershire Sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon, add some of the zest, too!
a little salt, and lots of fresh ground pepper

METHOD
Put 2 salad bowls or plates into the fridge to chill.
Make your salad dressing by placing the blue cheese, mayonnaise, milk, Worcestershire Sauce, lemon and lemon zest into a medium bowl or your food processor (if you don’t have a hand-held emulsion blender).
Incorporate ingredients, I like to leave mine with some pieces of blue cheese.
Place dressing in the fridge to keep cold.
Fry 4 pieces of pancetta and place on a paper towel to crisp.
Dice the tomato.
Plate the salads by placing the lettuce on the plate in whatever shape you’d like. You can do a wedge, or a thick slice across, or 4 or 5 big leaves in a bowl shape like I have pictured above.
Top lettuce with the blue cheese dressing.
Sprinkle the tomatoes over the top.
Crumble the pancetta over the salad.
Fresh ground pepper on top.
Enjoy!!