Naked salad
Friday, June 20, 2008
With the large varieties of lettuce everyone has been receiving in their CSA boxes recently (myself included), it gets hard to make salads interesting or even remotely appealing (see Eliza’s break up letter to lettuce for proof of how bad it’s getting around here!).
The other day I was staring glumly at a head of lettuce, wondering how I could face yet another salad. It occurred to me that maybe it was all about the dressing. I have a garden full of fresh herbs and enough olive oil to…well, I have a lot of it. What kind of dressing could I make? Apparently, the question is more like what kind of dressing couldn’t I make.
I decided to go with a multi-herb vinaigrette with Dijon mustard.
¼ cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1.5 tablespoon of finely chopped herbs
1 teaspoon of whole grain Dijon mustard
salt and pepperWhisk it all together (or, in my case, pack into a recycled jar and shake) until it’s all combined.
There are, apparently, about twelve billion varieties (give or take) of easily made salad dressings. Here are a few:
- creamy parmesan vinaigrette
- balsamic vinaigrette
- Basil and garlic vinaigrette
- carrot ginger vinaigrette
- green goddess dressing
- bleu cheese dressing
- cucumber dill dressing
What’s your favorite way to liven up a salad?
I hear you, Melissa - me, too. There’s nary a lemon or lime to found in these parts.
I was able to find a few non-citrus/non-vinegar dressing recipes here, here, and here (they’re yogurt-based).
I love to make my own salad dressing—it is so easy and tastes so much better too. Sometimes I’ll use wine instead of vinegar or citrus since we happen to have a lot of Virginia wine here. Last weekend I blended some garlic shoots with mayo, dill, scallions, mustard, and white wine to make a really delicious salad dressing/ veggie dip. I will post the recipe on my blog soon.
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I’m so glad that you posted this. I love to make my own salads- especially marinated veggie salads, like the lemon-dressed baby lima beans we ate yesterday. But if I want a salad for my OLS challenge, the acid in the dressing is a problem. No lemons in memphis. No wine vinegar that I can find (there’s a local winery 60 miles away, but they don’t seem to sell in memphis). Do you have suggestions? Thanks!