Old school with attitude

For some inexplicable reason I was craving a good old fashioned salad with ranch dressing last week, so I whipped up a batch of dressing using this buttermilk ranch dressing recipe from Mark Bittman. To the creamy mix I added in a chopped blend of the last of the fresh herbs from my garden—chives, dill, tarragon, parsley. The only other additions I made to Bittman's recipe were a dash of lemon to brighten it, and a smidge of horseradish sauce for some attitude. I spooned the dressing over a combo of romaine and iceberg lettuces, and then to guild the humble lily, I added more fresh herbs on top. Iceberg lettuce gets a bad rap for having poor nutritional content, but I think it's sweet, tasty and really stands up to an old school creamy dressing like this.