The Salad Experiment

The Idea

I needed a salad dressing idea, and I needed it quickly. It was just around noon, and I had just set up my station to start prepping the salad for the evening meal. At 5 pm, we would open our doors to feed the community, and I looked inquisitively at unemptied grocery bags full of veggies and salad that needed to be washed, peeled, and chopped. How would I pull all of this together and incorporate the theme of the evening's meal?

That was the easy part. I still needed to make a salad dressing.

As I stared at the counter, I had two ingredients that I needed to use. I felt like I was on an episode of Chopped. How was I going to incorporate cilantro and lime juice into my dressing?

Well, if you are looking for an exact recipe, you will not find it here. There was a whole lot of experimenting going on until we hit the taste profile that we were looking for.

Mixing the Odds and Ends

Standing around my station, I asked the chef what he thought. We debated back and forth how to include these ingredients.

The game plan included mayonnaise, cilantro, and lime juice. That would form the backbone of the dressing. I scooped out several cups of mayo from the monster container chilling in our walk-in refrigerator and added the lime juice and chopped cilantro.

Based on the thickness, I knew that I needed to thin out the dressing, so in went a cup of milk (I don't remember if it was whole milk or 2%). I whisked this new concoction before adding a bit of sugar to balance the lime juice.

Ten minutes later, I was standing by the food processor, blending in the remainder of the cilantro and yogurt. Once everything was blended together, the flavors started to meld together.

The Finishing Touch

This concoction of mayonnaise, milk, and yogurt with cilantro, sugar, and lime tasted really good. But.... What if we added something extra, something special to enhance the flavor? We threw out spices but rejected each one. Paprica. No. Cumin. No. Chili powder. No! Garlic. No!

How about creole seasoning? Yes!

The chef pulled the creole seasoning out from its hiding place, where the special spices are kept. (It's a long story, but the expensive spices walk away!)

A dash here! A dash there! And now, the dressing popped!

The Ingredients

Mayonnaise

Milk

Yogurt

Cilantro

Lime juice

Sugar

Creole seasoning to taste

The correct proportions are up to the chef to mimic this little recipe.

What type of salad did I create for this amazing little dressing?

Meledy of spring mix, romance, and iceberg (for the crunch)

Black and green olives, slices

Black beans

Pinto beans

Red onion, chopped

Tomatoes, diced

Corn

Red and yellow pepper, diced

Mexican shredded cheese

How to garnish?

For the garnish, we added three homemade tortilla chips. The chef fried them in oil while I was chopping away. While they were still hot, we tossed a little of that creole seasoning into the bowl and mixed them together.

The Experiment

Volunteering in the kitchen is always an experience. We never know exactly what foods will be donated on a weekly basis and we don't always have all of the ingredients to make the exact recipe that we want, so I have learned to improvise. It's a great way to learn to hone my cooking skills and to serve our community.

Here's to all you home cooks out there that dabble in your own version of kitchen magic!

Author's notes

Thank you for reading my story! It means a lot. If you really loved this story, please check out my other STORIES, leave a comment, or share with other readers.

Finally, if you have a story that you think I might like, feel free to leave a link in my comments, and I will check it out. I really love fantasy stories, if you can tell. Oh, and good food, too!