Gloria's special summer salad recipe

Yes, I know it is fall, but you can still make this summer salad! I brought this salad to our year end pot luck party a year ago. Quite a few people commented that they liked it, so I decided to share the recipe with you.

The secret to the flavor of this salad is the dressing. You can change up the salad ingredients to suit your own taste. This dressing recipe is quite large. It makes enough for about 3 big bowls full of salad. The good thing is that it keeps well for a couple of weeks in the fridge. I love the way the dressing doesn't "settle" once mixed and stored. The proportions of vinegar to oil are just right so that it stays mixed. Do use fresh basil and parsley. I don't think it would seem right if dried herbs were used.

Dressing Ingredients:

10 large fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1 1/2 tsp. of dried mustard powder
1 Tblsp. of curry powder
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/3 cup of sugar
4 green onions
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup of oil
1/4 cup mayonnaise

Chop the green onions just into about six pieces each. Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until mixed. (approx. 30 seconds)

Salad:

Romaine lettuce (I used a mix called "baby greens" from one of those ready to use salad packages)
1 avocado chopped into small pieces
1 stick of celery chopped into small pieces
1/2 long English cucumber sliced into very thin slices
1 medium sized red papaya chopped into small pieces
approx. 1/2 cup of toasted pecans. (To toast the nuts put on a sheet and bake in the oven at 350 degrees until brown. Watch carefully, they brown fast and can burn easily)

To make the Salad:

Put about 1/2 of the Romaine leaves in a large bowl. Pour approx. 1/3 of the salad dressing over it. Start tossing with large salad utensils. Slowly add the rest of the leaves a little at a time until they all look just very lightly coated. You don't want too much dressing on it or it can become overpowering. Add pecans, cucumber and celery. Toss some more. Last, add the avocado and papaya. Be very gentle when you toss these last ingredients, you don't want them to turn to mush.