Alfresco Autumn Sunday Dinner (Creamy Garlicky Salad Dressing)

There’s something special about Sunday dinner. Whether you share it with friends or family or enjoy it solo, the final dinner of the weekend is a great time to relax, recapture the week past and enjoy the last few hours before the work week starts up again.

We just returned from just such a dinner with my brother and his family. Ed and his wife Lyn have a wonderful mid-century modern home here in Chapel Hill; complete with a creek that makes the whole backyard experience even better.

It was slightly cool and breezy tonight and acorns danced around us as they fell from the trees. Ed made a fire in their fire pit and cooked up “hobo dinners” (seasoned ground local beef with potatoes and veggies, wrapped in aluminum foil and tossed in the embers), while the grown-ups tucked into a spicy brew of chili. Lyn’s from scratch corn bread and a crisp salad (my contribution) rounded things out. A delicious apple pie emerged from the oven as we finished up our meal. Fall has certainly arrived.

I promised Lyn that I’d share the recipe for the salad dressing I made, so what better way to give it to her is to give it to all of you as well. It is sooooo easy, it’s almost embarrassing. But it is also sooooo good.

I serve this on a crisp salad made of hearts of romaine, chopped scallions and quartered cherry or grape tomatoes. Avocado is also excellent.

Creamy garlicky salad dressing

Ingredients

• ½ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 Tbs Best Foods or Hellman’s Mayonnaise
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 clove of garlic, mashed into a paste with the side of a chef’s knife with a pinch of salt (this is a great technique when you want the flavor of garlic, but don’t want to bite into a chunk of it)
• ¼ cup shredded or grated parmesan or asaigo cheese
• juice of 1 lemon

Method:

Whisk all of this together; toss over salad made with either hearts of romaine or iceberg lettuce. Makes a great base for a bleu cheese dressing as well.