At Annie’s Father celebration of life, Veekee, his sister, announced she was making a Del Rosa Salad to honor him. Del Rosa is a neighborhood in San Bernardino, where his beloved childhood home is located. The place has strong memories of growing up in a big family, running around the neighborhood with friends and eating a very specific salad. The ingredients were simple: iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and homemade Thousand Island Dressing.

Hotie, Annie’s father, and his brothers only ate this one kind of salad.  Whenever I showed up to family dinners with red leaf, arugula, Frisée, endive, or butter leaf with a light vinaigrette dressing it would be looked at like a foreign object that contained potential poisons. “Why is it bitter, why does it taste like lime?” For a foodie like me, they were a tough audience, renowned for turning their noses up at anything different. 

And I got it. My family used the same dressing. Big families, without a lot of money, reach for inexpensive ingredients that are easily found in their pantries to make dressings. Not to mention it was the 60’s and that was a whole different food world. It was our childhood norm. 
These days, I like to think that I have stepped up my salad game. I love salads made from romaine lettuce with a light vinaigrette, but full confession: every once in a while, I will still make this take on the traditional dressing of our youth. There is nothing like the crisp crunch of iceberg lettuce. This dressing even makes a great secret sauce for hamburgers.

Ingredients

• 1/2 C Mayonnaise
• 2 T Ketchup
• 2 T Sweet pickle relish

Directions

• Measure ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir.
• Place into refrigerator for 30 minutes.