Last week I spent the best day cooking and hanging out with photo stylist and blogger Callie Aldridge Blount of Luv Cooks.  Who, for the record, is one of the most beautiful genuine people I know.   I recently met Callie and we decided that we wanted to collaborate on a blog post together.  Initially she asked me to be thinking of gluten-free/dairy-free/vegan recipes that would be good for spring.  I was all “Whoa…that just about knocks out everything I know how to cook.”  I know that it makes me super unhip, but I just do not eat like that.  Then I remembered one year when I was in college I spent Greek Easter in Memphis with my roommate, Victoria.  We spent the entire day that Saturday in her mother’s kitchen preparing for the feast that would take place at her uncle’s farm the next day.  Her parents owned a restaurant in Memphis and gathering in the kitchen and cooking was just what we did when we were there.  Sometimes there were tequila shots but that is for another post.  This trip is when I learned how to make the super fresh and tangy Greek dressing that her mom used for a beautiful asparagus salad we were making.  After I learned to make the dressing I used it on everything from traditional salads to pasta salads and as a marinade.  I’m not sure how I got away from making it, but until Callie’s request for a fresh spring recipe I had not given it a thought in 20 years.

After Callie and I sat down and talked through what we wanted to cook, we decided that the dressing would be amazing on so many different dishes.  We set out to make it the common thread for four different recipes.  Because we couldn’t narrow our menu down we are posting this series on both of our blogs with different recipes on Luv Cooks and The Style Gathering on two different days.  Today I am sharing the dressing here and Callie is giving you the recipes and how tos of flank steak and pizza on the grill over on Luv Cooks.  Of course we used the dressing as a marinade for the flank steak and as a drizzling sauce for the grilled pizzas.  I am also giving y’all a little preview in the pics above of the Greek Salad and the Marinated Asparagus that we will be posting Friday.  All of these would be amazing recipes for your own Easter Feast next week.

Tina Liollio’s Fresh Greek Dressing

1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 green onions, bulbs removed
1 cup fresh parsley, stems mostly removed
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until well mixed.  If you have read any of my other recipes you know that I am not much for measuring.  Adjust the amounts above for your personal tastes.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  I’m not really sure how long it will last because it is usually gone in a few days.

As for gluten-free/dairy-free/vegan, all of the recipes we are sharing can be modified to adjust to your diet.