Far Eastern Salad

In the last post, I mentioned that this salad was requested by my sister as a ‘must eat’ when she was here with me.  The funny thing was that even though I used to eat this about once a month myself, the past few years, I kinda forgot about it.  When she brought it up, I nearly fell off my chair!  Oh yeah!  This used to be one of my favorites so I immediately pulled out the recipe for the dressing-the only actual ‘recipe’ part of it-and then proceeded to drool over the scribbled card of ingredients until we had it at dinner.

I get excited about recipes like this because this is a prime example of why I started this blog in the first place.  This is a simple recipe that with a little prep, can be thrown together in a matter of minutes.  It tastes fantastic and is just different enough that it keeps dinner menus, and entertaining your friends and family, interesting.  And that is what we are all looking for, right?  I recipe that we know is a proven winner that we can add to our regular recipe rotation?  Absolutely.

I must say that it is the dressing that makes this salad.  It is great on any kind of lettuce with any combination of things, but these particular ingredients are quite spectacular.  The recipe is from my days working in the 4-H building at the MN State Fair and to my knowledge, they still serve it in the cafeteria there today.  Their version will have bean sprouts in it, an ingredient that I have eliminated but will help you understand its name a bit better: Far Eastern Salad.  I still call it that, even though it bears little or no resemblance to anything of eastern origin.  That’s OK, though.  One bite and you won’t care what it is called, only that you will want to eat it again and again.  You can bet I won’t be forgetting about it any time soon!
One Year Ago:  Strawberry Sauce-This is great on pound cake, angel food cake, ice cream, or waffles!

Far Eastern Salad
This recipe makes enough dressing for several salads, but it lasts for a few weeks in the fridge.  If you like, add a handful of bean sprouts.

Spring Mix, 50/50 (spring mix/spinach), or all baby spinach
cooked, crumbled bacon
hard boiled eggs, diced
diced green onions
bean sprouts, optional

Dressing:
1/2 c oil (I use half extra virgin and half canola)
1/3 c sugar
3 T ketchup
2 T red wine vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
pinch of red pepper flakes

Whisk all dressing ingredients together in a small bowl or shake in a sealed jar.  Toss salad just before serving.