Fall

House Sweet and Sour Salad

by:
December  3, 2011
4.5
2 Ratings
House Sweet and Sour Salad
  • Serves 4 as a side salad
Author Notes

This is one of my favorite lettuce salads to serve with grilled steak. It's very reminiscent of the house salad served by the Machus Restaurant Group here in Metro Detroit from the mid sixties to the mid nineties. The Machus Group had a number of restaurants in the area - The Sly Fox, Foxy's, The Machus Bakery and the infamous Red Fox , where Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa was last seen leaving before he disappeared. The food was classic American, but the house salad was probably their claim to fame. My version has a few extra ingredients and I booted the iceberg lettuce, but what's so bad about blue cheese, red onion and bacon? —inpatskitchen

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the dressing
  • 1/3 cup rice vinegar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • For the salad
  • 6 cups torn Romaine lettuce leaves
  • 6 strips bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled
  • 1 cup thinly sliced red onion
  • 1 cup of your favorite blue cheese
  • 15 to 20 California ripe olives, halved
  • 1/2 cup cooked chick peas
  • A few cherry tomatoes, halved if large
  • Croutons for garnish(optional)
Directions
  1. For the dressing
  2. Shake all ingredients together in a salad cruet or jar and refrigerate until ready to use.
  1. For the salad
  2. Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl and dress with as much of the salad dressing as you like.
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  • thirteenJ
    thirteenJ
  • inpatskitchen
    inpatskitchen
  • beejay45
    beejay45
inpatskitchen

Recipe by: inpatskitchen

I think I get my love for food and cooking from my mom, who was an amazing cook. She would start baking and freezing a month before Christmas in order to host our huge open house on Christmas afternoon. I watched and I learned...to this day I try not to procrastinate when it comes to entertaining. My cooking style is pretty much all over the place, although I'm definitely partial to Greek and Italian cuisine. Oh yes, throw a little Cajun in there too!

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8 Reviews

beejay45
beejay45 March 6, 2017
Who needs steak? This sounds like a meal to me. ;) I'd swap feta for the blue because mold allergy, but this sounds totally delish! Thanks
 
inpatskitchen
inpatskitchen March 7, 2017
Thanks so much beejay45! It really is good!
 
thirteenJ
thirteenJ October 20, 2012
I love this! For 5 days in a row I've only managed to make an abbreviated version (romaine, onion, bleu, and olives)...because I can't wait to dig in!!!
 
inpatskitchen
inpatskitchen October 20, 2012
You're too funny! I'm so glad you're enjoying even the abbreviated versions!
 
thirteenJ
thirteenJ October 7, 2012
Yes!!! This is it! Thanks!
Boy, we sure have a sweet tooth when it comes to salads in the midwest ;- )




 
inpatskitchen
inpatskitchen October 7, 2012
Oh yes! Besides a good Caesar this is one of our favorites...actually, my brother is coming in from Baton Rouge this week and I'm planning on making this one for our little family get-to-gether!
 
thirteenJ
thirteenJ October 9, 2012
Flashback!! How nice!
It was definitely a simpler time when everybody got the same salad dressing!
 
inpatskitchen
inpatskitchen October 9, 2012
You're so right!