Harold's Florentine Salad Dressing

"This recipe made it's developer (a European-trained chef who died a few years back), a VERY rich man. I used to eat regularly at his fine restaurant in Portsmouth, Ohio, and I never ever missed having a green salad with this incredible dressing. Peoples' tastes are different, but, to me, this is the finest salad dressing I have ever tasted anywhere. I have already halved the recipe and reduced the salt content by about 1/3. You'll need a Kitchen-aide mixer for this one and don't shortcut the blending time (I have to do it in 2 batches) or you'll be disappointed. I'm posting the recipe here so that I can always go back to it if I happen to misplace my own copy. I hope that you enjoy this rare and unique Italian salad dressing as much as I do."
 
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Ready In:
1hr 10mins
Ingredients:
7
Yields:
1 3/4 gallons
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ingredients

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directions

  • Split all ingredients in half (have them ready at hand) and make half a batch at a time.
  • Pour the lemon juice and garlic powder in the Kitchen-aide mixing bowl and, with the wire whip attachement, blend on setting #2 until the powder is completely dissolved, (about 5 minutes).
  • Add the onions (and any juice), cayenne pepper, sugar, and salt. Blend on setting #2 for at least 20 minutes. Gradually add the oil as it is blending and continue to mix for the full 20 minutes (30 is better).
  • In a large container, mix the two batches of dressing together. Stir continually as you bottle the dressing in smaller containers.
  • Refrigerate until use -- always serve very cold on chilled salads.

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Reviews

  1. I also use to have this salad at Harolds in Portsmouth Ohio .I've tried to reproduce it many times and never could, I'm so excited to find it here ,my mouth is watering just thinking about it.Thanks!!!
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>
 
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