Buddy's Family Antipasto

If you are a true Detroiter, there are a few basic truths about you (at least where food is concerned): Vernors, Sanders, Better Made chips, and Buddy's pizza.  Now, I know Chicago is famous for their deep dish, but Detroit holds it's own at Buddy's. An institution at the corner of Six mile and Conant and family owned and operated since 1936. Their secret is the toppings go under the cheese - so no charring of the meats. But they are almost equally as famous for their antipasto salad (feeds a family of 6 easily) as they are for the pizza. Lettuce, salami, ham, cheese all tossed with the secret vinaigrette dressing. The first trick here is the brick, cheese that is. A soft, white that's higher in fat than other domestic (i.e., Wisconsin) white cheeses.  Although, I must admit, when I make it at home for my family, I often use shredded mozzarella, as that's generally what I have on hand. There is one element for which there is no substitute and that's the dressing - the Buddy's dressing that makes a Buddy's salad a Buddy's salad. Almost equal parts soybean oil and red wine vinegar, with "spices" and sugar added, it has a distinct flavor, you know, like Vernors only different. Luckily, Buddy's now bottles and sells their dressing locally, so your family, and more importantly mine, never has to be without.

Family, ABC's 1976-82 (3 years too many if you ask me) drama featuring an average middle class Lawrence family. At the heart of it all was Buddy, aka Letitia, aka Peaches, aka Kristy McNichol. The show created what we now term "very special episodes" featuring Pubescent angst (McNichol), infidelity, divorce and single parenthood (sister Nancy, played by Meredith Baxter Birney not Birney), wayward school dropout brother Willie, breast cancer, alcoholism and the struggles of an educated housewife and mother who put her family ahead of her own wants and needs. Melodrama at its finest, the best plot lines involved Buddy, usually faced with some decision, like whether or not to have sex with Lief Garrett - to which she always just said no, (until teaming up with bad news girl Tatum O'Neil at summer camp in Little Foxes, that is). But, like all shows, it began to wane and suffering from C.O.S. (Cousin Oliver Syndrome, an almost always fatal affliction that leads to series cancellation), a new cute kid (Quinn Cummings) was added into the mix, solidifying the break up of the Family.

The Recipe:

2 hearts of Romaine, chopped or torn apart by family dysfunction
2 thick to medium slices of a good, low fat salami, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 slices of good ham (that's redundant because all ham is good ham except Quinn Cummings), cut into bite-sized pieces
4 oz Brick or mozzarella cheese, shredded or cubed
Buddy's dressing to taste

Toss. In a bowl. Even a child could do it.