Summer Sandwich and Salad

Is there anything better than a home-grown tomato and basil sandwich?

That was our dinner the other night, along with a salad of mixed greens. If you want to push your tomato sandwich over the top, use basil mayonnaise on the bread. Yum.

To add to the summery-ness of the salad, I used beer in the salad dressing. No, it doesn't taste like beer, but it has a complex sweetness which goes well with the tomato sandwich.

The salad recipe is from McAuslan Brewing, a Montreal microbrewery. The salad dressing calls for St. Ambroise pale ale, but that's hard to find in LA so I used Newcastle instead. Just don't use a lager - it will be all bubbles and no flavor.

For cheese I used Cashel Blue from Ireland -- a soft buttery blue with a salty bite.

Unusual? Yes. And surprisingly delicious. It might become your go-to summer salad.

McAuslan Salad
1 tbsp mustard
1/4 cup pale ale
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tbsp honey
mixed greens
blue cheese

Combine mustard, ale and vinegar. Whisk in olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Whisk in honey and taste again.

This will make 1 1/4 cups dressing. It keeps well in the fridge.

Toss some mixed greens with a little dressing. Put on individual plates and dot each serving with 1 tbsp crumbled blue cheese.