Thursday, September 22, 2011

Another Recipe, Another Story

Tomorrow is the first day of fall and I've decided to share a summer recipe, and this one has a fun story behind it.

I like when recipes have a story to them. To me it makes them taste so much better. Your grandma made this dish every Easter, or Great Aunt Lida served that recipe every Sunday, or here's one that Uncle Greg invented one summer when he was out camping. This is a recipe you serve with fruit salad, and here's how I came to have it.

In the late 1940s my mother and her sister moved from Minneappolis, Minnesota down to Houston, Texas. They became friends with a large group of other single people in their church and had many, many adventures. When I was a girl I loved to hear all her stories. One of her friends had a close friend who was married. One night her husband took her to dinner at a well-known hotel there in Houston that was known not only for it's romantic atmosphere, but also for it's amazing menu.

That night the woman had the fruit salad with poppyseed dressing. She was so taken with the dressing she asked the waiter if she might get the recipe, which he soon brought to her. At the end of the meal when her husband was presented with the bill, an additional $100 was added to it for the recipe. They were shocked, and afterwards the woman decided that if they were going to charge her that much for the recipe she was going to get her money's worth and passed it around to all of her friends; one of which knew my mother.

I've always liked that story. That spunky woman passing around that fancy hotel's $100 recipe! And here it is for you to try. We always serve it on the side in a small gravy boat or pitcher so you may add as much or as little as you like. It's a sweet and sour type of dressing and is wonderful with a fresh fruit salad. Have fun!

Poppy Seed Dressing

1 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups oil
1/2 cup vinegar
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Mix sugar, mustard, salt and vinegar.  Add oil gradually, but steadily. Add poppy seeds last.


No comments: