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Compliments of Lynne Conway, Renton, WA
Sweetnicks’ Note: All below notes are Lynne’s.
1 head of romaine lettuce, cleaned and torn into bits
3-4 teaspoon A-1 sauce
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 avocado, cut into small pieces
1 large tomato, cut into pieces
red wine vinegar
good olive oil
salt and pepper
2-3 cloves of garlic
two clean hands
To prepare the red onion, marinate the slices for at least half an hour (longer is better) in a small bowl in red wine vinegar to cover. They will become very soft. To prepare the salad bowl, use a garlic press to mash the garlic into the bottom of the bowl. Add the A-1 sauce (do not substitute). Using your hands, rub the garlic and A-1 well all over the inside of the bowl. When you are ready to mix the salad, kick everyone out of the kitchen. Place the lettuce, avocado, tomato and red onions in the bowl. Season with a liberal sprinkling of pepper; salt to taste. Pour about one part red wine vinegar and three parts olive oil over the salad. With your hands (do not use tongs!) mix the salad thoroughly, making sure to incorporate the garlic and A1. Invite one of your favorite relatives to come in and test it for you! Enjoy!
Notes: My Grandma Rosa, the sweetest lady now in her 90s, used to make the best green salad any of us had ever tasted. We five grandchildren would bring our friends home for special family dinners, and everyone went crazy over Grandma’s salad. No one could get enough! Grandma used to kick everyone out of the kitchen when she would make her salad. Absolutely no one was allowed to watch. After the salad was mixed, she would call one of the grandkids in to “test” the salad, and tell her what we thought needed an extra pinch. Usually we just exclaimed how wonderful it was! When she got into her eighties, and the kids scattered around the West Coast she decided to let me in on her secret salad to keep it going. Of course, I cannot duplicate it – she had magic hands! But the simple recipe above, give or take quantities because Grandma never measured anything, is the closest anyone can come to Grandmas Secret Salad.
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