2

All About The Dressing.

June 20, 2012 by Carolina

Jamie Oliver, my favorite celebrity chef, once said “the most important part of a salad is the dressing” — I could not agree more. A salad can go from just okay to utterly fantastic by using a great dressing…that you make yourself. No matter how many varieties of pre-made dressings there are out in the market I’m just not a fan, mainly for two reasons: 1) They are usually packed with ingredients I can’t pronounce, most of them are sugars & yucky chemicals that aren’t good for us (I’m always weary of foods that have weird ingredients in them), & 2) they don’t taste nearly as good as homemade ones. Not only are homemade dressings better for you & much tastier, they are also very easy to make.

I’m here to share with you some of my favorite dressings you can make in just minutes. Most of them follow two simple rules:

• 1 part acid (think limes, lemon, vinegars) to 2 parts oil
• Use good quality ingredients, since dressing doesn’t have many ingredients in it you can really taste the difference

If you follow these simple rules, even if you just mix (for example) 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 2 tablespoons good quality olive oil, you’ll end up with delicious & healthy dressing. It’s that easy! If you want to get a little fancier, or simply want to try to make some awesome dressings at home, here are ones that will not disappoint! You can play around with the measurements to get them as sweet, tart, or creamy as you’d like:

Asian: Minced fresh ginger, olive oil, garlic, rice vinegar, soy sauce & honey.

Balsamic: Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper.

Honey Lemon: Olive oil, fresh lemon juice, local honey.

Honey Mustard: Grainy mustard, honey, apple cider vinegar, minced garlic, salt & pepper.

Thai: Soy sauce, smooth peanut butter, brown sugar, white vinegar, sesame oil & water to loosen it up.

Yogurt Dill:  Greek yogurt, white wine vinegar, olive oil, chopped fresh dill, salt & pepper.

Do you make your own dressings? What’s your favorite? From one salad dressing lover to the other, share your recipes with me. I’m always looking for new ways to dress my salad!