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The Rusty Pelican Salad Dressing
Prep Time
15 mins
Total Time
15 mins
 

This salad dressing has always a big hit when I make it for big gatherings where I toss it simply with the salad ingredients listed below. (The shrimp is optional as some people may have seafood allergies.) Leftover dressing can be kept up to 2 weeks when refrigerated, but I doubt it'll last even that long. With summer almost upon us, fresh greens from the farmer's market will soon be in abundance! But I can imagine that this dressing would be wonderful as a dip for raw veggies, drizzled over grilled chicken, or even grilled/planked salmon! :-)

Salad: Salad
American: American
Servings: 3 cups
Ingredients
Dressing ingredients:
  • 1-1/4 cup good mayonaise
  • 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup dijon mustard
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion, or more to taste
  • 1/2 cup parsely leaves, loosely packed
  • 1 lemon (juice only)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salad Ingredients:
  • 6-8 cups mixed salad greens (My Mom made a note that it can be any salad green(s) you perfer.)
  • 6 mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 2 tomatoes, diced (or an approximate amount of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved will work as well)
  • 2 Tablespoons chives, chopped
  • 1 cup fresh shrimp or 1 can of mini shrimp, drained and rinsed (optional)
Instructions
To make the dressing:

  1. Note: The amounts for the dressing as above can be double or tripled, depending on the size of your gathering. But made as instructed, you'll end up with approximately 2-1/2 to 3 cups of dressing, so you'll be set to go for most occasions!

  2. Place all the dressing ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth. Recommend making it the day before or, at least, several hours ahead, to let the flavors blend. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Cooking the fresh shrimp:

  1. Note: Once again, the salad and shrimp ingredient amounts can be doubled or tripled, or use you best judgement depending on the number of guests.

  2. If using shrimp, not from a can, you'll need boil them in water with a bay leaf, a Tablespoon of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.

  3. Bring the water to a boil and then add the shrimp. Wait for the water to start to come back to a boil and cook approximately 3-5 minutes or until firm.

  4. Drain and run cold water over them to stop them from cooking.

  5. I tend to use larger shrimp as they are easier to find and clean. So I coarsely chop each shrimp into nice sized pieces and set aside until ready to assemble the salad. Keep refrigerated if doing this step earlier in the day or the day before.
Assemble the salad:

  1. In a separate bowl, combine all the salad ingredients.

  2. Just before serving, drizzle with dressing and toss.

  3. Extra dressing can be left out for guests to add more dressing to their liking.

Recipe Notes

Note: While the dressing makes a lot, the other ingredients are for approximately 6 servings as a side salad.

 

Note: The restaurant served the salad with Italian/French bread toasts that had a smear of butter and a little bit of shredded cheddar and grated parmesan that had just come out from the broiler. So good!