Salad for Ouita
story by Donna Hecker & photography by Talitha Schroeder
When Ouita Michel was the chef at Emmett’s Restaurant in the late 90s, she and her late mom Pamela Sexton shared a running joke about the quality, or more accurately ~ the absence of it ~ in restaurant salads.
So Pam, or Penny as she was nicknamed, wrote a poem called “Salad for Ouita.” It’s an ode to salads, a lyrical recipe. Pam’s writer friend, Susan Brown, beautifully reproduced the poem in colorful, flowing calligraphy and Pam framed it as a gift for Chef Ouita and her husband Chris, to celebrate the opening of Holly Hill Inn.
And now Pam’s poem has been given fresh new life by Arwen Donahue, in her vibrant illustration of it for Chef Ouita’s docuseries, Up Home with Ouita Michel.
illustration by Arwen Donahue
The poem describes a nest of red oak leaf and sprouts, slivered green beans, and a golden dressing of oil and fresh lime, shards of Romano. Provisioned with newly harvested lettuces and sprouts from Maggie Dungan’s Salad Days Farm, we gathered in the kitchen at Holly Hill Inn. And watched as Ouita showed us how to build a salad, guided by her mother’s poem.
It started with Pam’s old wooden salad bowl and an impromptu chart of our resources. A tangle of lettuces, Maggie’s red oak leaf and David Wagoner’s sorrel and endive, went in first. Then Ouita rummaged in the walk-in refrigerator for odds and ends from dinner service the night before.
A few carrots, shredded into long ribbons; pieces of vine tomatoes; pickled green beans; Maggie’s sprouts; pea shoots and nasturtium leaves. And a handful of spring beauties plucked from the yard. A quick taste check of the dressing ~ Chef Ouita dips a lettuce leaf into the jar and approves ~ and all is good.
As we fill our bowls, Ouita reminds us that recipes are living things and waiting for us to make them our own, whether by necessity or design. No pumpkin seeds for Penny’s Pumpkin Seed Dressing? She substituted sunflower seeds. No shards of Romano? Leave them off.
Your salad will still be delicious, because it will be yours. Because you’ve made it with good ingredients like fresh garden lettuces from Maggie and David. And with a love like the one between mother and daughter.
Penny’s Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette
One of Chef Ouita’s family salad traditions included her mom’s pumpkin seed vinaigrette. Pam, or Penny as was her childhood nickname, made it every week and kept a small jar of it in the fridge. Enjoy Ouita’s secret tribute to her mom on any lettuce or cabbage salad, or as a dip with crudité!
Ingredients
½ cup red wine vinegar
4 cloves garlic
1 T dijon mustard
1t fresh ground black pepper
2t sugar
1t salt
1 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
1 ½ cup olive oil
¼ cup water (optional)
Directions
In a blender or food processor, process vinegar, garlic, dijon, black pepper, sugar, salt and pumpkin seeds until pureed. With the motor still running, drizzle in oil and process until emulsified and smooth. If it seems too thin add up to ¼ cup water to reach the desired consistency ~ pourable for dressing a salad or thicker to use as a dip. Makes 2 ½ cups
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