Labor Day in Wellfleet Salad Dressing

Finally getting around to posting this, like I promised I would an age ago!

The subtitle of this blog is "a coterie of college chums cookin'," and, while we've mostly given up blogging about it, cookin' creatively remains a big part of our chumminess whenever and wherever we gather. Thus, our Labor Day Weekend 2012 Reunion-by-the-Sea generated this amazing salad dressing, which could be called "Wellfleet Dressing" if we wanted to sound classy about it, or "What We Found in the Cupboards on the Cape, Put Into a Bottle, and Poured Over Lettuce, Just for Fun" if we're going for total honesty.

At any rate, it was delicious, and we ate a lot of salads, so I'm recording it here for posterity, in case we want to recreate it next summer.

Labor Day in Wellfleet Salad Dressing
created by Sarah Antonich, Hannah Todd, the bottles in the back of the cupboard, and possibly some other onlookers and assistants, I'm not sure, I wasn't actually there at the time.

1 1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
splash of red wine vinegar
4 to 6 garlic cloves, crushed
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
a pinch of onion powder
a pinch of oregano
a pinch of basil
1 tsp. spicy brown mustard
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbl. sugar

Mix all ingredients in a large measuring cup or other mixing vessel. Decant into a salad-dressing-appropriate vessel (easier if you have a funnel). Shake well before using. Really quite amazing over mixed greens and garden fresh tomatoes.

Quick and Splendid Post-Rehearsal Gorgonzola Pasta with Chard

Again, I am waking up this long-sleeping blog to record something I made up on the fly last week and would not like to forget about. One of those "I'm exhausted and these things were in my fridge" meals that turned out better than many a "real recipe." So, here. Enjoy!

'gredients
pasta (I used rotini, but it probably doesn't matter)
chard
olive oil
gorgonzola
cheddar
salt
paprika
(quantities can be pretty much "whatever" -- I used one chard leaf, because that was all I had, for a single serving of pasta, but I bet it would be even better with more)

process
boil water, cook pasta. while pasta is cooking, wash and shred chard. drain pasta and pour into an oven-proof, broiler-proof dish of some sort. toss with olive oil, then mix in crumbled gorgonzola and shredded chard. and a pinch of salt. grate cheddar over the top, sprinkle with paprika, and stick under the broiler for five minutes or so (until the cheese is all melty and starting to brown, obviously). remove from oven, consume with gusto.

total prep & cooking time: under 20 minutes
(ideal for throwing together after coming in late and starving from a dress rehearsal)