Garden Salad

Name: Garden Salad
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 6 cup lettuce, romaine (torn into bite-size pieces); 1 unit tomato (cored, cut into wedges); 1 unit cucumber (halved lengthwise, sliced); 1 unit carrot (peeled, grated); 1 unit bell pepper, red (seeded, sliced into thin rings); 1 unit onion, red (sliced paper-thin); ¼ cup mayonnaise; 2 tbsp sour cream; 3 tbsp buttermilk; 1 tbsp dill (chopped); 1 tbsp chives (thinly sliced); ¼ tsp garlic powder; ¼ tsp onion powder; 1 tsp lemon (juice); ¼ tsp salt; ¼ tsp black pepper (cracked)

Vegetables & Salads · American

16 ingredients · 40 minutes · 2 servings

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299kcal5.4g protein24.3g fat18.4g carbs~$1.70/ serving*

Contains dairy, egg · sometimes contains soy — check the label · only in an optional ingredient: gluten

Restrictions

Containsdairy · eggIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Sometimes contains — check the labelsoy (Mayonnaise)Some brands have it, some do not. The recipe cannot tell, so this is the one you check yourself.

Only if you add itgluten (bread)Leave that ingredient out and the dish does not have it.

Diets

Vegetarian · without onePescatarian · without oneNo pork · without oneNo alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

6 cup	lettuce, romaine (torn into bite-size pieces)
1 unit	tomato (cored, cut into wedges)
1 unit	cucumber (halved lengthwise, sliced)
1 unit	carrot (peeled, grated)
1 unit	bell pepper, red (seeded, sliced into thin rings)
1 unit	onion, red (sliced paper-thin)
¼ cup	mayonnaise
2 tbsp	sour cream
3 tbsp	buttermilk
1 tbsp	dill (chopped)
1 tbsp	chives (thinly sliced)
¼ tsp	garlic powder
¼ tsp	onion powder
1 tsp	lemon (juice)
¼ tsp	salt
¼ tsp	black pepper (cracked)

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

⅓ cup	cheddar (shredded)
2 slice	bread (cubed, toasted into croutons)
1 tbsp	olive oil (for the croutons)
2 unit	eggs (hard-boiled, quartered)
3 unit	radish (sliced thin)
2 slice	bacon (cooked, crumbled)

Steps

Whisk3 min
cold, in a small bowl
mayonnaise + sour cream + buttermilk + dill + chives + garlic powder + onion powder + lemon juice + salt + black pepper — add the buttermilk last and in a stream, because dumping thin acidic liquid into mayonnaise all at once breaks the emulsion and you get curds floating in whey instead of a pourable dressing
Rest20 min
refrigerated
dressing, so the dried alliums hydrate and the dill bleeds into the base; whisked and used immediately it tastes flat and chalky, and it is also too thin — it thickens noticeably as it sits
Prep7 min
cold water, then dried completely
romaine washed leaf by leaf and spun or towel-dried until no water beads remain, then chilled — this is the whole salad. Water on a leaf is a barrier the fat in the dressing cannot cross, so a wet salad tastes of nothing and puddles at the bottom of the bowl, and cold leaves stay turgid and audibly crisp
Slice5 min
tomato + cucumber + carrot + bell pepper + red onion, keeping the tomato wedges separate on a paper towel to drain — tomato seed jelly is the main source of stray water once the salad is built
Mix2 min
wide bowl, immediately before serving
chilled romaine + two-thirds of the dressing tossed with hands or tongs from the bottom up until every leaf is glossed, then + drained tomato + cucumber + carrot + pepper + onion + any optionals folded through once. Dress at the last moment: salt in the dressing pulls water out of the leaf cells by osmosis, and within fifteen minutes a dressed salad goes limp and the bowl fills with pink liquid. Serve the remaining dressing on the side