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Sometimes, manning the kitchen means throwing open the refrigerator doors and whipping up dinner with whatever its contents happen to be. And sometimes, it turns out more fantastic than any recipe you could have followed.

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Salad Improv № 5

You’d be surprised at what an interesting salad you can build if you’re willing to cast a pretty wide net. For instance, consider mixing a few small handfuls of fruits – dried and fresh – into your vegetable salad. They give your salad pops of sweetness here and there that seem to liven up the vegetables. As much attention as you pay to flavor, do the same with your salad ingredients’ color, shape, and texture. Dried cranberries are beautiful and chewy, both of which add interest to the salad. Crushed pretzels not only add a nice, tough, crunch, but they also add a belly-pleasing heft to a satisfying dinner salad.

Leaf lettuce, red and yellow peppers, cucumber, apple, purple grapes.
Dried cranberries and crushed pretzels, optional.

Creamy Mustard-Caper Dressing

This is a fantastic, creamy, savory dressing. It has an unexpected, soft, subdued flavor with a bit of tang, and it marries perfectly with a green salad. Absolutely delicious.

It’s not low-cal … its ranch-like foundation is made of mayo and sour cream: full-fat versions, both of them. (Salad without fat is bad for you. Really.) I took that as a starting point, aimed in the general direction of thousand island, but then took a serious left, off into uncharted territory, when I decided on mustard instead of ketchup. Once I did that, the capers just begged to get on-board.

Makes around 2 cups, or enough to dress about 10 moderately-sized dinner salads generously

Ingredients:

8 oz. mayo
4 oz. sour cream
¾ oz. pomegranate-infused balsamic vinegar
3 oz. stone-ground honey mustard
3¾ oz. chopped dill pickles
⅜ oz. chopped capers
⅛ oz. freshly cracked black pepper
½ tsp salt
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions:

In a medium-size mixing bowl, stir all ingredients until well blended. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Creamy Mustard-Caper Dressing

Bacon would be delicious in this salad – and so would cold, thinly sliced beef or warm, grilled chicken; I didn’t happen to have any on-hand. Enjoy this salad with a beer. It will pair well with the dressing. Dress fashionably while savoring this salad, because mustard is very trendy right now.

You might also like…

• Improv Cooking
• Salad and Ranch Dressing

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Credits for all images on this page: Make It Like a Man! Hover over images and/or green text for hidden truths. Click for enlightenment. Coming Soon: the “Mary, Queen of Scots” salad. Boiled celery root diced and tossed with lettuce, creamy mustard dressing, truffles, chervil and hard-cooked egg slices.

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