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Veggie

Crystal Miso Salad

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Crystal Miso Salad

one and a half slices miso ginger soy salad noodles recipe thai

Single serve. Veggie forward. Cold. Clean. Fresh. & Crunchy.

🥢🍋‍🟩🌶️🫑🥒🥕🫚🥜🫛🥢

what you need

2 small Persian cucumbers, sliced lengthwise and very thin

1 extra large carrot, peeled and then shaved using the carrot peeler

the green parts of 2 green onion stalks, sliced

1 cup finely sliced red or savoy cabbage

1 cup steamed and cooled shelled edamame

1 cup rice vermicelli noodles, cooked according to package directions 

1/2 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped 

1 small handful of fresh cilantro, washed and coarsely chopped 

🥢

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon plain miso paste

1 tablespoon creamy, runny peanut butter

2 tablespoons hot water

1 teaspoon sea salt

the juice of 1/2 a lime

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 1 teaspoon chili oil (such as Momofuku)  

🥢

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

how to make it

Method: lots of chopping and peeling

Utensil: peeler, mostly

First, the veggies. Peel the carrot, chop the cucumber, steam the edamame, chop the cilantro, chop the cabbage, chop the green onion, and toss it all together in a mixing bowl.

Then, the dressing. Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously. Adjust for taste. It should be slightly thin.

Finisher. Cook the rice noodles and strain them into the vegetable mixture, careful to keep them somewhat separated as they have a tendency to cool together in a chunk. You can also toss them in a little sesame oil to help with this. Add the peanuts and toss everything once or twice. Then add the dressing and toss until everything is coated. You should have one heaping bowl full when this is all done. 

Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and eat with chopsticks.
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Veggie

Warm Garlic Almond Soup

one and a half slices green kitchen stories garlic almond soup recipe
one and a half slices local simple recipes food

Warm Almond Garlic Soup with Parsnip

The Cozy One

This is the second soup from The Great March Festival of Soups (inspired by Green Kitchen Stories). This soup is by far the coziest. The olive oil (provided it is good olive oil), grapes, and pistachios really do something special. And I do not recommend skipping the cayenne. This truly is a cure for the common cold and chilly weather. It’s a hug in a mug. It’s like fleece-lined mittens. It’s early spring. 

what you need

3 white root vegetables: parsnips, white potatoes, and/or celeriac

1 garlic bulb (~10 cloves)

2 cups boiling water

2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup of almonds, blanched

1 onion

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 bunch of red seedless grapes, halved

1/4 cup roasted and salted pistachios, chopped 

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

olive oil, black pepper, and cayenne for serving

how to make it

Preheat oven to 400. Cut parsnips and onions into roughly same-sized chunks. Peel and halve the garlic cloves. Toss in olive oil and spread into a baking pan lined with tinfoil. Bake on 400 for ~20 minutes until the vegetables become soft. 

In the interim, blanch the almonds (60 seconds in boiling water). Remove the skins and place the blanched almonds in the blender with the water and vegetable broth. Pulse and then blend on high until you’ve made a crude almond milk. 

Add vegetables, thyme, vinegar, and salt to the blender and blend on high for two rounds of ~3-4 minutes for maximum smoothness. If you really want to smooth it out, you can add a couple glugs of olive oil while blending. 

Adjust spices for taste and pour into bowls. Soup should be very warm to hot. Drizzle with olive oil. Top with halved red grapes, toasted pistachios, cracked black pepper, and a few dashes of cayenne for extra spiceness. 

The Festival of Soups
one and a half slices green kitchen stories soup recipe collaboration

Green Pea Mint Soup

It’s cold. And it’s the time of year when everyone in Northern Virginia wishes they did not live in Northern Virginia. March drags on forever, and just when you think you’ve made it to spring, Easter is chilly and there is sleet on Mother’s Day. This is the all-star springtime soup. This green pea minty soup basically has a salad on top and the crema can get really creative. So break out the wasabi, the green vibes, and the blender. Best part is this thing takes all of 20 minutes to make. It is bright and vibrant; perfect for Easter, perfect for Spring. You’re welcome.

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March 19, 2023 No Comments
one and a half slices green kitchen stories garlic almond soup recipe

Warm Garlic Almond Soup

This is the second soup from The Great March Festival of Soups. This soup is by far the coziest. The olive oil, pistachios, and grapes really do something special. And I do not recommend skipping the cayenne. This truly is a cure for the common cold and chilly weather. It’s a hug in a mug. It’s like fleece-lined mittens. It’s early spring. 

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March 24, 2023 1 Comment
oneandahalfslices recipes healthy local clean green eating eats

Asparagus Lentil Soup

This is the third soup recipe in the March Festival of Soups! This one is the most elaborate but it also may be the most worth it if you’re into a wicked interesting flavor profile and a little meat on your bones (figuratively speaking – the protein in this soup is lentils). With some unique flavors and a burst of freshness that screams spicy, hearty chimichurri, this is just what the late Spring chill ordered to nudge the vibe towards summer and keep out the late-seeping cold. 

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April 10, 2023 No Comments
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Veggie

Green Pea Mint Soup

one and a half slices green kitchen stories soup recipe collaboration
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Green Pea Minty Soup with Wasabi Crema

The Best in Show

It’s cold. And it’s the time of year when everyone in Northern Virginia wishes they did not live in Northern Virginia. March drags on forever, and just when you think you’ve made it to spring, Easter is chilly and there is sleet on Mother’s Day. Here at OneandahalfSlices we decided to combat the cold with what shall now be known as The Festival Of Soups. Three soups were made in one day, leftovers studied, and the all-star recreated three times in the subsequent 10 days. This, my friends, is the all-star. This green pea minty soup inspired by Green Kitchen Stories stole the show. It basically has a salad on top and the crema can get really creative. So break out the wasabi, the green vibes, and the blender. Best part is this thing takes all of 20 minutes to make. It warms up well so you can make it the night before a dinner party. And if you want to make it a meal with some protein, grill a couple prawns or top with some shrimp sauté. It is bright and vibrant; perfect for Easter, perfect for Spring. You’re welcome. 

what you need

1 yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1 package (~16oz) frozen peas. Alternatively, fresh peas would be ideal.

1 can (~12-13oz) simple, full-fat coconut milk

12-13oz (~1 1/2 cups) vegetable broth

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

10+ sprigs of fresh mint

1 tablespoon coconut oil (or oil of choice)

olive oil for serving

Microgreens such as microarugula for serving  

(optional) 1 tablespoon wasabi paste 

(optional) cayenne and black pepper for serving

🥬🌼

🌷🥬

💐💐

how to make it

Heat coconut oil on medium heat in a large saucepan on the stove. Do not heat super hot – this is a slow roll / low burn recipe. Warm. Not hot. 

Slice garlic and dice onions, adding them to the pot and stirring until they become translucent, ~5 minutes. Add peas, mint, coconut milk, vegetable broth, and a little salt. Bring to a very low simmer for ~2-3 minutes. Do not boil. 

Remove from stovetop and pour soup into blender. Blend on high for a good while. The more you blend, the smoother your soup will become. I left mine on high for two rounds of ~3-4 minutes. The blending also makes it a little foamy. 

If you want to make crema for serving: Mix Greek yogurt with 2-3 tablespoons good olive oil. Add nutmilk, milk, or water to thin it out so it is drizzle-able. You can substitute the olive oil for wasabi paste if you prefer wasabi crema.

Pour into bowls to serve immediately. Soup should be very warm but not hot. To serve:

  • Drizzle with good olive oil
  • Drizzle with crema
  • Sprinkle with cracked black pepper and/or cayenne
  • Place a heaping mound of microgreens atop the soup
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Veggie

Spaghetti Squash

one and a half slices spaghetti squash recipe
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Spaghetti Squash

one and a half slices spaghetti squash recipe

Okay, I know what you must be thinking. Like, how does this even merit a post. But hear me out. You all know I like vegetables (#eatfoodnottoomuchmostlyplants) and am on some strange culinary crusade to feature more plants as the centerpiece for breakfast, lunch, or dinner (see Sticky Whipped Feta Carrots, coming soon). Yes, I frequently steam up the florets from a head of broccoli and coat them in cheddar cheese and call it dinner (eaten with chopsticks, of course). And yes, I am a sucker for a simple, humble vegetable soup. But this vegetable… this simple, elegant, yellow, rotund little squash… is amazing. We get spaghetti squash at the CSA almost every week late summer and through the fall (thanks Potomac Vegetable Farms). And people keep doing weird shit with it. Like trying to make actual spaghetti or using it in pizza crust. No thank you. This squash is not a substitute for some other simple carbohydrate. It stands all on its own… as brunch, as the world’s most delicious snack, or just because. There is one very important trick to cooking spaghetti squash to elicit maximum spaghetti-like texture and quality. I will dispense this advice… now (hat tip, Baz Luhrmann). 

what you need

1 squash

a brief moment to giggle quietly to yourself about how funny the word squash is

how to make it

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Line a rimmed baking pan with tinfoil
  3. Cut squash in half not lengthwise (whatever the opposite of lengthwise is)
  4. Spoon out some of the seeds but don’t get obsessive about cleaning it out well
  5. Fill the rimmed baking pan with some water and place each half of the squash face down in the water
  6. Bake for 45-60 minutes depending on the size of your squash (the top will get pretty brown and that’s usually a good time to take it out)
  7. Let squash cool for a few minutes so you can handle it
  8. Taking one half of the squash in your left hand, take a fork and start to peel away the meat preserving as much of the spaghetti lengths as possible and removing any seeds that remain
  9. Place a pat of butter on the squash in the bowl, toss lightly, and sprinkle with cracked black pepper and salt
  10. Enjoy the most heavenly of all possible vegetables (sorry brussels, carrots, and shishito peppers…)
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Veggie

Crispy Cranberry Brussel Sprouts

oneandahalfslices brussel sprouts crispy recipe holiday
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Crispy Oven Cranberry Brussels Sprouts

oneandahalfslices brussel sprouts crispy recipe holiday

Crispy Brussels Sprouts are a fall favorite but this recipe definitely adds some #Christmasvibes by adding both the color and the flavor of dried cranberries. If you really want to up the flavor profile, you could also crumble on a very small amount of bleu cheese. This dish was part of the 2021 Roasted Goose dinner alongside my Perfect Mashed Potatoes and Citrus Dill Roasted Carrots but these sprouts make the perfect Fall-Winter side dish to almost any meal.

what you need

1 bag of Brussels Sprouts

1/4 cup dried cranberries

3 drizzles olive oil

1 scant drizzle balsamic vinegar

Salt and Pepper to taste

(optional) 2 tablespoons finely crumbled bleu cheese

how to make it

Preheat oven to 375. Wash the Brussels Sprouts and cut them in half (the larger ones in quarters). In a mixing bowl, coat the sprouts in olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper, tossing thoroughly. 

Spread sprouts out onto a baking sheet and bake for ~30 minutes or until crispy. Toss with dried cranberries and serve immediately, topping with bleu cheese if desired.  

one and a half slices christmas goose dinner recipes
🦃More from the 2021 Holiday Collection🎄
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Veggie

Citrus Dill Carrots

one and a half slices citrus dill roasted carrot recipe
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Citrus Dill Roasted Carrots

one and a half slices citrus dill roasted carrot recipe

These carrots make for the most elegant side dish. Orange citrus, fresh dill, and the natural sweetness of a sun-grown carrot all come together luxuriously to serve as a simple, last-minute side. Last week the Potomac Vegetable Farms Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share had all-you-can-take carrots, so this dish was a must for my Christmas 2021 Roasted Goose Dinner, alongside Perfect Mashed Potatoes and Oven Roasted Cranberry Brussels Sprouts.

#Christmasvibes

what you need

1 group of small to medium carrots

3-4 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped

2 tablespoons butter

Juice from 1/2 an orange

1 pinch of salt

how to make it

Preheat oven to 375. Peel the carrots. Leave the smaller carrots whole but cut the large carrots into halves or, if necessary, quarters. 

Squeeze orange juice over carrots in mixing bowl and sprinkle with dill. Toss to combine. Melt the butter in a cup and pour it over the carrots. Sprinkle with salt.

Arrange carrots on foil on a baking sheet and bake for ~30 minutes until carrots begin to brown. Turn carrots once and cook for 5-10 more minutes if necessary. Serve warm.

OneandahalfSlices roasted goose recipe simple holiday
🦃More from the 2021 Holiday Collection🎄
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Veggie

Shishito Peppers

one and a half slices shishito peppers recipe local
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Roasted Shishito Peppers

one and a half slices shishito peppers recipe local

This is my new favorite summer appetizer. I cannot believe my CSA (shoutout to Potomac Vegetable Farm) has had fresh, local shishito peppers almost every spring/summer week for two years and I did not know how to prepare them! This really is the simplest party appetizer you could possible make. And SO salty and delicious, with excellent flavor. They aren’t spicy unless you want them to be! A friend recently told me that Shishito Peppers, a Japanese varietal, aren’t naturally spicy but sometimes end up that way in the US because we tend to plant them close to other hot pepper varietals. The natural shishito is sweet and earthy with very delicate flesh.  

what you need

Desired amount of fresh shishito peppers. Both green and red are good. 

Salt to taste

Cayenne pepper (for spicy) or Paprika (for not spicy)

Good olive oil

how to make it

Heat oven to 450

Toss shishito peppers in olive oil, salt, and paprika or cayenne

Lay out peppers on a pan and roast until they begin to brown

Remove from oven and poke 1-2 holes in each pepper with a sharp knife so they deflate

Serve HOT!

Other Apps
argentinian empanada recipe authentic argentine oneandahalfslices

Empanadas

There are many varieties but a recipe for specifically Argentinian empanadas is difficult to find – especially in English and out of the metric system. Often served as an appetizer, empanadas are hearty little handpies that can suffice as a meal alone and their flexible filling options (savory or sweet) make them perfect for just about any occasion. Argentina will always be a special place for me. So here is the elusive no-one-writes-this-shit-down family recipe.

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January 3, 2021 4 Comments
one and a half slices healthy vegetarian recipes sprouts

Brussels Sprouts Salad

For those who think you don’t like Brussels Sprouts, pause… let’s see what happens to them when we add a decent flavor profile. This healthy, clean salad is crunchy, flavorful, and interesting all in one bite. It’s fresh like summer, crisp like springtime, and full of fall and winter flavors. A perfect snack, app, or dinner if eating light. Makes me think that maybe some Instagram Reels are worth watching…

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January 16, 2022 2 Comments
one and a half slices ham and melon cantaloupe recipe summer

Jamon con Melon

This is the simplest of appetizers. Elegant and perfectly balanced. Sweet and Salty. aka Melon Carpaccio. #summervibes

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September 17, 2022 No Comments
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Omni

Beef Stew

OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Beef Stew

I know it isn’t exactly stew season (August) but I’ve had stew beef from the meat shack (Springhouse Farm Store) for a hot minute and stew needed to be made. Beef Stew is also not the most photogenic main course but man is it satisfying. So here it is – a quintessential, traditional, hearty, beautiful Beef Stew.

what you need

1-1 1/2 pounds stew meat

6-8 small potatoes (red or white) or 2 medium sized baking potatoes

2-3 medium carrots

3/4 cup tomatoes (cherry or regular sized, diced – can substitute with 1 can of diced tomatoes)

1 onion (Vidalia or Spanish/Yellow)

3 1/2 cups beef broth 

Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

1 cup red wine

2 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar

3 tablespoons Worchester sauce

2 bay leaves

2-3 tablespoons oregano

1/4 cup flour

3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

(optional) 6-8 button or cremini mushrooms, halved

how to make it

Note: You can get away with shortening the simmer times slightly if you’re on a compressed timeline, but be sure the meat simmers for at least 1 1/2 hours total.

Heat oil in dutch oven or stew pot over high heat. Toss stew meat in flour, salt, and black pepper. Add meat to pot, ensuring not to crowd, and brown on all sides. Remove from pot and set aside.

Add vinegar, red wine, beef broth, and Worchester sauce to the pot and stir, scraping the leftover meat bits up off the bottom. Add the bay leaves, oregano, red pepper flakes, and black pepper, and bring to a boil. Add the meat and simmer on lowest heat, covered, for 2 hours. 

Consume remainder of bottle of red wine, because, you know, it will go to waste… 😏

At the two hour mark, chop about 1/3 of the potatoes into course chunks and add to stew pot. Simmer another 1 hour.

Add carrots, remaining potatoes, onion, tomatoes, and mushrooms (if using) to pot and continue to simmer (covered) for an additional 45 minutes. 

Stir vigorously and cook uncovered for an additional 30 minutes, or just let the bot sit so some of the liquid can evaporate. Serve hot, in cauldrons, with crusty bread and a flagon of wine, if at all possible. 🍷
More Stews
lentil sausage stew soup recipe oneandahalfslices

Viking Lentil Stew

If there is crisp in the air, you want this. You want two bowls of this. And you want it with parmesan cheese on top. It is the most flavor-rich, complex soup I have probably ever tasted. It leaves you full, warm, and longing to make another pot. The secret is in the quality of the sausage.

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October 21, 2020 1 Comment
creamy coconut sweet potato soup recipe oneandahalfslices

Creamy Sweet Potato Stew

Coming out of Vegan October, we were a little tired of lentils and were looking for something to do with copious amounts of sweet potatoes. Hence this little gem was discovered. Creamy with coconut milk, almost like curry. Spiced with flavors of the same. Hearty with sweet potato and flourished with kale. Yes, there are still a few lentils, but they are hardly the stars of the show. This soup is light enough for any season and feels perfectly at home here at the end of October. 🧡

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November 7, 2021 1 Comment
pot roast recipe one and a half slices whisky pairing

Pot Roast

This is the main course for the Whiskey Pairing Dinner and, my, what a deep, flavorful pot roast this is! Let me start by saying that I sourced a 4.6 pound chuck roast from the Spring House Farm Store to feed the four of us and had no regrets. A simple pot roast is easy enough to pull off especially if you have a slow cooker, but this really takes the flavor profile up a notch to make this velvety, sinful, fall-off-your-fork roast with plenty of fall veggies.

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November 14, 2021 3 Comments
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Omni Veggie

Rice Pilaf

OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Customizable Rice Pilaf

This highly customizable rice pilaf rounds out my rice trifecta – Customizable Fried Rice, Indian Biryani Rice, and this one. This is by far the most customizable of the three. You can make it how you want it – side dish, main course, protein of choice, strictly vegetarian. You can choose a Moroccan, Mediterranean, or Latin flavor profile with the spices that you select. My favorite is a chicken-centric, Moroccan-esque varietal. All you have to do is follow a simple process: 1) Base, 2) Spices, 3) Veggies, 4) Rice, 5) Broth, 6) Garnish, and it’s ready in 30.  

how to make it

(the bolded ingredients make my stand-by, Moroccan profile rice pilaf pictured above)

1) BASE. This is where you establish the flavor profile of your pilaf. Start by heating 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. Then add 3/4 cup of any of the following along with salt and pepper, and sauté ~2-4 minutes. 

  • Diced Vidalia or Spanish onion
  • Minced ginger root
  • Minced shallot
  • Diced carrot
  • Diced celery
  • Diced fennel 

2) SPICES. This is where you build the flavor profile of your pilaf. You don’t want to drown the rice in spices like you might a curry; rather, lightly fragrance the rice with 1-3 spices of your choosing. Add 1 scant tablespoon of spices total, choosing from the following:

  • Lemon zest
  • Cinnamon
  • Cayenne
  • Oregano
  • Mint
  • Turmeric
  • Coriander
  • Cumin
  • Saffron

3) VEGGIES. This is where you can give your rice a little extra, if you desire. Throwing in some small broccoli florets, green peas, snap peas, or diced bell pepper here can give your rice a little more body. For my Moroccan pilaf, I add a handful of Golden Raisins or sometimes a diced apple. Give your mixture a good stir and another 60 seconds over medium-high heat

4) RICE. Now add 1 cup of rice of choice, dry. Jasmine rice or basmati rice tend to work best to absorb the flavors, but I’ve also made it with long-grained brown rice. Stir the grains until coated and sauté an additional ~2-3 minutes. If the mixture is starting to burn or looking a little dry, you can add another dash of olive oil or toasted sesame oil. 

5) BROTH. This is the part that sets rice pilaf apart from normal rice – it is cooked in broth. Add 1 1/2 cups of broth – chicken, vegetable, homemade, or Knorr, your choice. Throwing in a splash of white wine is also acceptable and perhaps a little more salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a light simmer, cover, and cook for ~15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Then remove the rice from the heat, cover with a clean dish towel, and replace the lid, letting the rice rest for 10 minutes (this is key to making your rice fluffy not sticky!). 

6) GARNISH. This is the best part of the entire pilaf. It’s where you add freshness and crunch to the beautifully rich flavor profile you’ve just created. Choose one thing green and one thing crunchy from the options below:

  • Minced chives
  • Fresh parsley
  • Fresh cilantro
  • Fresh mint
  • Toasted almonds
  • Toasted pistachios 
  • Toasted pine nuts (also a favorite)
  • Toasted hazelnuts (also a favorite)
  • Toasted cashews (also a favorite)
  • Toasted pecans
  • Marinated, baked, chunked chicken or protein of choice

Fold in your garnish, fluff up this rice, and serve. The Moroccan style tends to pair well with a lemon wedge to squeeze on top for that added brightness. It may look like a lot but these six simple steps, once mastered, yield a full-bodied, hearty rice pilaf that can serve as a side dish or an entire meal. Of all three OneandahalfSlices rice dishes, this is by far my fav!
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Other Rice Things

Fried Rice

July 24, 2025 4 Comments

A quintessential fried rice recipe. AKA what to do with leftover rice, weeknight style. This hits. Make it spicy. 🌶️ Get some sake. Fuck it, go to Japan.

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Moroccan Tagine

September 21, 2024 4 Comments

I have been SO excited to release this post!!! Why? Because this is your new weeknight dinner. It will impress your family, fill your stomach, warm your heart, and make your house smell like North African spices. I started making tagine years ago when I first moved to DC and came across a tagine in World Market. I was instantly and aesthetically intrigued, and purchased the thing on the spot not having a clue what I would do with it. Well… figured that one out. A tagine is the OG slow cooker.  And whatever you put inside – lamb, chicken, chickpeas, rabbit, potatoes – you will taste the spicy exoticism. If you don’t have a tagine, no worries. You can make it in a Dutch oven, stovetop or, yes, in a slow cooker. And before you think this is just chicken slow roasted in tomato sauce… keep reading…

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oneandahalfslices black bean bowls homemade grilled corn mexican

Black Bean Bowls

October 15, 2022 3 Comments

Man, I gotta say, bowls have to be the biggest culinary hack for weeknight dinner. These Mexicali bowls are one of my standbys. The recipe I’m going to give you is for homemade black beans which, after you make them once, you’ll never buy another can of black beans again. Then I’ll leave a few bowl assembly hints for you at the bottom. #summervibes

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Veggie

Caesar Salad

caesar salad sauce recipe one and a half slices
one and a half slices recipes local delicious food

Caesar Salad

caesar salad sauce recipe one and a half slices
florida

Anyone who cooks has a handful of recipes handed down from their mother, their grandmother, an aunt. I can proudly say that it is my mother who taught me to cook. More importantly still, she didn’t just teach me how to cook but what to cook – what to eat. I am pretty sure she said “eat food, not too much, mostly plants” long before Michael Pollan did. In my younger years I remember her sending me out to the garden to collect the evening’s herbs or sticking a sauce in my mouth off the stove to ask what flavors I tasted. “Salty” didn’t cut it. 

Through my twenties I set to work experimenting with the old favorites she used to make and trying to haphazardly recreate them in whatever kitchen I could make use of that year as I bounced from state to state, university to university. During this time, I also developed a culinary style of my own, favoring one pot meals over her more comprehensive family-style table setting, and foreign flavors like curries, Georgian, Turkish, and Far East soups. Now, returning to my hometown is a joy because we split the cooking. One night I make something exotic, the next night she makes the one thing that is best in Florida – fresh fish (baked, grilled, with sauces, with salsas, on salads, any which way). 

This Caesar Dressing, though, will always have a special place in my heart. It is the best Caesar dressing, and at one time during my childhood, we had it several times a week, but most importantly on Sundays. During my senior year of high school, my parents indulged a teenage ritual that came to be known as Hot Tub Sundays. There were three of us total, the other two, fellow thespians, and any additional people that wandered in to join any particular Sunday evening collection. We would sit in the hot tub and jump off the large rock statues into the pool while mom made “mocktails” and dad tried to prod us into playing poker with the card deck he had personally laminated (things only retired people do).  The only problem was, if you made so much as a ripple in the water surface, the cards sank to the bottom. 

After the ritualistic soak, the dinner bell rang, calling us all to a buffet indoors of dad’s cheeseburgers, mom’s parmesan red potatoes (skillet-style, in the oven), and mom’s Caesar salad. My friends referred to this as “salad with the Caesar dressing” and the one time it was substituted for a more traditional salad with vinaigrette, the objections were so vehement it became apparent this Sunday evening event required some modicum of culinary consistency. So here we have it. The Salad with the Caesar dressing recipe. Today, I prefer my Caesar salads with avocado, or sometimes with chicken. Red onions, tomatoes, and hard boiled eggs are also welcome additions. So feel free to beef this up or tone it down depending on if it is your main course or just your side salad. But that dressing… you’ll never buy another jar of Marie’s. I promise.

what you need

1 tablespoon unsweetened Greek yogurt (mom uses mayonnaise)

1 small clove of garlic

2/3 cup grated parmesan reggiano cheese

1 tablespoon good olive oil (if you don’t know what constitutes “good” olive oil, check out the notes at the bottom of the Essential Bolognese Sauce post)

3/4 tablespoon anchovy paste (do not skip this!)

Salt and black pepper to taste; dash of cayenne if desired

1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

1-2 tablespoons nut milk or whole milk, as required

1 hefty squeeze lemon juice

how to make it

Combine all ingredients in small blender and combine until smooth. Add the milk little by little until the mixture has enough liquid to mix.

Note that if your small blender is strong enough, you likely won’t need to pre-mince the garlic clove at all. 

To serve, toss dressing with: romaine lettuce (grilled or raw), thinly sliced red onions, chunked chicken (grilled or baked), diced hard boiled egg, a little extra lemon juice, and top with a little extra parmesan cheese. 

Some of you may be wondering how this differs from my Caesar Sauce. The Sauce is more of a dipping sauce, has stronger flavors, and is much more obviously yogurt based. This is your classic, quintessential, tried and true Caesar salad dressing.

Before Grilling
With Egg
After Grilling
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