Sunday, March 1, 2009

Yes You Can! Salad Dressing

Mention salad dressing and most of us think of a bottle.

Grocery store shelves are stocked with countless varieties of kosher salad dressing. Other than having too much salt and sugar, they’re not really so terrible. But why spend money on something that’s so simple to make yourself?

You probably already have the ingredients for healthy and delicious salad dressing.
All it takes is oil, vinegar or lemon juice, salt and pepper. The only equipment you’ll need is a whisk or a bottle with a tight-fitting lid.

The proportions are one part vinegar to three parts of oil. But there’s lots of room for adjustments. And endless variations.

Get started with this vinaigrette recipe:

2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
6 tablespoons (1/3 cup) extra-virgin olive oil

Combine the vinegar with the salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil. Or, shake everything together in a jar.

Makes about ½ cup.

Now get creative. Try balsamic or rice wine vinegar. Add a spoonful of Dijon mustard or finely minced onion or garlic. Grate fresh lemon zest into a dressing using lemon juice. Experiment with herbs and spices.

3 comments:

  1. I usually use olive oil and balsamic or raw apple cider vinegar as my dressings of choice. But - I have another idea that I think you may like:

    Whenever I have an almost empty jar of mustard, jelly, or maybe another condiment, I add olive oil and maybe an acid and shake it up in the bottle to get the last few remnants of the condiment and make for a more interesting salad dressing! Fruit-sweetened raspberry jelly, olive oil, and vinegar is one of my favorites!

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  2. Thanks for the great idea!

    Our current favorite is avocado oil, which is now being produced in Israel. Mix lettuce or baby-mix, toasted hazelnuts, sliced avocado, rice wine vinegar and avocado oil. Delicious!

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  3. i'd like to recomend a small yet special brand of olive oil called "mesheck olive oil", located in israels lower galili, i use it in all my recipies! www.mesheck.co.il

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