Summer Salad with Lime or Lemon Dressing

My mother’s favourite salad, and not just in summer, was iceberg lettuce, cucumber and tomato dressed simply with a little white sugar dissolved in sufficient lemon juice. I can imagine her. She made a portion for one, for herself, in a little cereal bowl, squeezing the lemon by hand, adding the tiniest teaspoon of sugar, mixing it all together with a fork. No oil. She reserved that for cooking.

She had a way of eating that salad that made it sound like the best-tasting thing in the world. (Have you heard of ASMR? People videoing themselves eating food for the noise. My mother would have been great.)

I never liked dressings as a child. (I also never liked icing/frosting, too sweet.) But I grew up to be partial to vinaigrette (still don’t like icing, unless used sparingly). It’s that tartness of vinegar and the spiciness of Dijon mustard. I thought my mother’s method of using sugar in the dressing was a bit “old country” … until I tried it again. As usual, my mother was right.

When you have light-tasting, delicate leaves like iceberg or oak (photo), dressing is optional, I think. But if you want a little hint of zing – that tartness – without drowning anything, there’s this foolproof lime or lemon dressing. Lime for me is slightly sweeter than lemon, though both work. Obviously the lime would particularly complement any Asian or Mexican flavours also on the menu.

This summer salad with lime or lemon dressing is particularly good if you have another, heavier side on the menu, like a potato salad. I asked my daughter for a quote:

“Fresh. Like you’re sitting seaside in Italy.”

-Stewed Pears Jr

And, with that, I’ll just leave this little photo of seaside Italy right here.