Spices

Spices

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Fresh Salad Dressing - No Fancy Name



Here is a no-fuss, no measure dressing for your garden salad. With good Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), juice of one half of a fresh lemon, Kosher salt, crushed black pepper and assorted dried herbs, you will have salad dressing as you need it. I like to use basil, oregano & tarragon. A pinch or two of sugar gives a nice balance to all the ingredients.

Prep: With your garden salad prepared in a nice serving bowl, gather all the ingredients mentioned above. Begin first with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil drizzled on top of the salad. (A few turns around the salad bowl.) Then take half of the fresh lemon and squeeze into your clean hand to catch the seeds, allowing the juice of the lemon to fall into the salad bowl. Then take pinches of Kosher salt, crushed black pepper, basil, oregano, tarragon and sugar to add on top of the garden salad.

Once all ingredients are in the salad bowl, you can toss the salad gently with clean hands, salad tongs or wooden spoon. Be sure to taste a piece of lettuce to check the balance of your seasonings. Sometimes more salt is needed, sometimes a bit more sugar. Amount of herbs to use is up to your personal taste.

Serve: It is best to prepare the salad dressing just before serving at the dinner table. You do not want the vegetables to get soggy. Your salad should remain crisp with just enough dressing to coat the vegetables.

Optional: For an acid instead of lemon juice, you can use red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar for a slightly different taste.

Enjoy.

1 comment:

  1. So easy dressing by Barefoot Contessa aka Ina Gartner:
    1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
    Salt and Crushed Black Pepper to taste
    1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil slowly added into lemon juice and whisk as adding the olive oil.
    That's it - soooooo simple.

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