…if what they want is GOOD food.

After a weekend of less-than-healthy eating — the Super Bowl has that effect — I figured it was high-time to post one of my all-time favorite salad dressings.  In fact, this dressing is so special that I decided to give it its own post (tune in tomorrow for the perfect salad).  While Italian, ranch and blue cheese might hold the throne as America’s favorite salad dressings, I’d like to introduce you to what you’ve been missing out on — poppy seed dressing.  I know, I know.  Poppy seeds? While you might be wondering how poppy seeds could still be relevant, especially in a salad dressing, consider the words of Kay Rentschler from her New York Times article on this misunderstood spice, “Ultimately, it is as a finely granular, dusky backdrop that poppy seeds make their point best, a point well articulated in the presence of lemon or orange peel, the smoke of sweet spices or the fragrant notes of honey or orange flower oil.”  Sounds like they might find a nice home in a unique sweet and sour salad dressing, doesn’t it?

Romanticism aside, I’ve eaten this dressing since I was a boy, on salads as varied as tender red leaf lettuce with grapefruit segments and blue cheese to sturdy spinach leaves with strawberries and feta — you really can’t go wrong.  In fact, the beauty of this dressing is its ability to compliment ripe fruit regardless of season.  Wintertime salad? Use crisp apples or tangy orange segments for a refreshing contrast to this dressing’s sweet notes.  Have pears from the farmers market lying around?  Toss them in as a sweet foil to the same tangy dressing.

As tasty as it is beautiful, this one-of-a-kind dressing is worth making for the work week when you’re in the need of something light and refreshing. Whip up a batch in the blender, throw it in your fridge and eat like a king for the week.

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In elementary school, showing up to the lunch table with an egg salad sandwich was almost certain social suicide. This was unfortunate for someone like myself who simply loved the stuff.  Along with tuna sandwiches (which somehow brought about an even more violent reaction in my peers), egg salad sandwiches were unfortunately an after school snack staple.

It wasn’t until I was in college, going to school at the University of California at Santa Cruz, that my girlfriend turned me on to  a version of egg salad that even picky grade schoolers would have difficult time hating. Known as the BELT at Zoccoli’s Delicatessen on Pacific Avenue, this simple, yet delicious sandwich marries the classic bacon, lettuce and tomato version with the creamy, richness of egg salad on toasted wheat bread. 

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