Special Salad

(Serves 8-10)

This is a modified version of a recipe I got from my mother. When we lived in St. Louis, there was this little restaurant my parents loved to go to, and this was the House Salad there. Growing up, i always called it "special" salad because its been my favorite since forever. It's fresh, light, and has a lemony/parmesany dressing that is to die for. It's total comfort food to me, and even to this day my family still calls it "Special Salad".

Note: If you want to make this a main-dish salad, get 1/4 lb thick sliced pastrami from the deli and cut it up into strips. DELICIOUS. 

INGREDIENTS 

Salad

1 large head lettuce ripped or cut into bite-sozd pieces (either green leaf, red leaf of romaine. I like red leaf the best)

1 large hot house tomato, chopped (or 2-3 small roma tomatoes)

1 small can artichoke hearts, chopped

1/4 red onion, sliced thin

1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Dressing

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

6 tablespoons parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Put all salad ingredients in a large bowl. Stir and refrigerate while you make the dressing.

For the dressing, put the lemon juice in a small bowl. Mix in the garlic powder, dry mustard, and pepper. once mixed, start adding parmesan a little bit at a time while stirring. (At this point, you want it to be very pasty, but not dry. Add the olive oil until it's creamy in consistency. You may have to add more or less oil than specified. 

Make sure you test the dressing before you put it on the salad! It should be mildly tart. If it's too tart, you can add more cheese or more olive oil, or both. If it's not tart enough for your liking, add more lemon juice. :) 

Once dressing is made, pour over salad and toss. It is excellent when eaten just after being tossed, but does not keep well for leftovers because it wilts.