A combination Italian style salad made of romaine lettuce, shrimp, boiled egg, fresh tomatoes, olives, loads of veggies and dressed with a spicy tomato and garlic dressing.

Combination Italian-Style Chopped Salad with Shrimp

Yessireebob... that there is what you call a main dish salad!

I know it's supposed to be fall but it's still pretty hot here in the Deep South, so I haven't moved away from summertime eating quite yet, and what a beautiful salad for one of the last salutes to summer!

This is a salad, that at least back in the day, was well known in the New Orleans and coastal Mississippi areas, when it had a rather colorful, totally inappropriate and not very politically correct name, which if you're from around here you know exactly what I am talking about.

I'll just leave it at that. It's what the Friendship House referred to as a combination salad, with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, shrimp, boiled eggs, loads of veggies and a garlicky tomato based dressing.

"Heave Ho the anchor now and call out the captain and the crew. We're off to eat at the Friendship House where the flounder is so fresh and shrimp are too. Where the steaks are great and the chicken is the same and the lobster and the crab have their very own name. We're off to eat at the Friendship House. Friendship (piper toot) is their middle name."

From my recollection, the Friendship House went through a few hurricanes, a few owners, a few rebuilds and quite a few menu changes over the years. The Meyers who owned it for a time period, sold the building to the Brennan family of New Orleans,

This is a good place to insert a quick reminder... that this is a blog, not just a "recipe site," and yes, there is a difference! I want to first thank all of you who have supported my work over the years. Your notes to me are uplifting and encouraging, however, if you aren't interested in the chit chat, info, photos, tips and such in a post, as always, you'll find the complete recipe text with measurements and instructions, as well as a printable document, a little bit further down the page. Just swipe or scroll down to the bottom of the post!

The original recipe, publicly shared by the Meyers family, was a rather large batch, calling for a pint of salad oil for the garlic dressing alone, and another 5 cups of oil for the main dressing itself!

Rather than what you would assume might be an Italian dressing, the dressing itself is more of a French style dressing. It was drizzled over rinsed and dried salad greens and a mixture of vegetables first, followed by another drizzle of overnight, heavily garlic infused salad oil.