The Big Italian Salad made in South Arm Women Community Kitchen uses oregano, Italian parsley and basil for flavouring.

Ingredients for Dressing

• 1 cup loosely packed fresh Italian parsley, roughly chopped.
• 10 big leaves fresh basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons honey

For the Salad

• 1 large head Romaine lettuce, washed, dried and cut into large, bite-sized pieces
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup chopped hothouse cucumbers
• 1 large carrot, peeled into ribbons
• handful grape tomatoes, halves
• handful pitted olives
• Ricotta or Feta cheese, crumbled ; to taste

Source: Jennifer Segal, onceuponachef.com

Instructions

To make the dressing, combine all dressing ingredients in a food processor and blitz to blend. A hand held blender will work too.

Place all salad ingredients in a large bowl.

Right before serving, add about half of the dressing and toss well. Add more dressing little by little as necessary; be sure to dress greens very generously, otherwise salad will be bland.Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Reserve leftover dressing for another use.

Michelle also shared with us how she stores her salad in manageable portions when she makes a big batch.Place desired amount of dressing at the bottom of the container. Add hardy vegetables like carrot and celery. Top with greens. Shake the container to mix the salad before serving.