HALLIE EPHRON: One thing I've never understood is why anyone uses bottled salad dressing. Unless you're camping. Or cooking for a household of fussy eaters in which everyone wants a different dressing.
Salad dressing really is easy and delicious. Make it yourself and you won't accumulate a backlog of partially used bottles of dressing. You can make just enough for a single meal and know exactly what you're putting in your mouth.
A basic make-it-yourself balsamic vinaigrette uses these ingredients:
Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dry mustard, salt, pepperHere's the ingredients list for a popular bottled balsamic vinaigrette:
Water, Balsamic Vinegar (Wine Vinegar, Grape Juice, Water), Soybean Oil, Sugar, Canola Oil, Salt, Contains Less Than 2% Of Dried Garlic, Dijon Mustard (Distilled Vinegar, Mustard Seed, Water, Salt, White Wine, Tartaric Acid, Citric Acid, Spice), Spice, Xanthan Gum, Dried Parsley, Oleoresin Paprika, Potassium Sorbate And Calcium Disodium EdtaI'm sure it tastes fine, but notice the first listed ingredient (and hence the one there's most of) is water. Who puts water in salad dressing? And their "balsamic vinegar" is (parenthetically) a combination of wine vinegar, grape juice, and (more) water.
The best thing about making dressing from scratch is you know exactly what went into it. You can decide at the last minute what dressing you want to go with whatever you're cooking.
With these staples (below) on hand, and you can whip up a French vinaigrette, balsamic vinaigrette, creamy blue cheese, Ranch, Greek, or that orange creamy stuff we used to call French dressing in California...
- Olive oil
- Vinegar x 3: balsamic, white, cider
- Sour cream
- Mayonnaise
- Ketchup
- Dry mustard
- Dijon mustard
- Salt, pepper, sugar
- Blue cheese
- Fetah cheese
Here's the how-to for a delicious spinach salad with almonds and
raisins and crumbled fetah or blue cheese.- Soak 1/2 cup of raisins (or dried cranberries) in 1.5 T balsamic (red wine) vinegar, 3 T olive oil, 1 tsp sugar - 20 minutes or more
- Pan toast 1/2 cup of slivered almonds
- Break about 1/3 cup of fetah or blue cheese into chunks
- Rinse and dry about 1/2 pound of fresh spinach, removing any woody stems
- Assemble: mix spinach and raisins and dressing (what the raisins are soaking in), top with almonds and cheese
Are you into bottled dressings or a make-it-yourselfer? What's your favorite dressing and how do you whip it up?
Definitely DIY salad dressing for me!
ReplyDeleteMy go-to recipes are a lemon-tahini dressing with lemon juice, tahini, garlic, S&P. Or a Greek-inspired vinagrette with EVOO, lemon juice (or red wine vinegar), dried oregano, garlic, S&P.
But with local strawberries in season, I have been making a strawberry-based vinagrette with pureed strawberries, apple cider vinegar, EVOO, S&P and putting together my own version of a spinach salad.
You’re a girl after my own heart, Grace!
DeleteI love tahini dressing and usually forget to make it. I learned it from my Ottawa sister, who learned it when she was cooking (all vegetarian) at Insight Meditation Society in western MA. Yum.
DeleteOttawa has so many good Lebanese and Middle Eastern restaurants, Edith. That is how I got hooked on tahini and I also use it in other recipes, including tahini cookies.
DeleteI used to buy tahini when I made my own hummus. Been awhile...
DeleteWhat is EVOO Grace ?
DeleteYes, I make my own hummus regularly, Hallie.
DeleteEVOO = extra virgin olive oil
We make a simple Parmesan Peppercorn dressing by mixing 1/2 cup each of mayonnaise, sour cream, and shredded parmesan cheese. Add fresh chives, a minced garlic clove, and freshly ground pepper to taste. Thin with milk to desired consistency . . . .
ReplyDeleteYum! That sounds so good. And ingredients all that I have in the house
Deletethat sounds great!
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DeleteThat sounds terrific!
DeleteI don't usually use salad dressing, and I let Hugh go ahead and have his bottles of the stuff. But I always make a vinaigrette for guests. It's easy and so much better. I use Dijon mustard out of the jar, not dried, and I like to combine rice vinegar and a bit of lemon or lime juice. My friend uses pickle juice in her vinaigrette.
ReplyDeleteI use the juice left over from my pickled jalapenos to flavor roasted beets
DeleteFor company, I'll also make a simple vinaigrette, and I like very light dressings on my own salads. Steve likes thick dressings like Russian and French, and he prefers the Paul Newmann brand of Italian, so I give up and we have bottles in the fridge.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do make my own specialty dressings, per the Joy of Cooking. I got tired of always finding that the cole slaw dressing in the fridge had gone off, so I tried making my own, and we like it better. I add either horseradish or a teaspoon of wasabi sauce to it most of the time. The other two sauces I make from scratch are tartar sauce (I use pickle juice for this, Edith), and remoulade.
I also want to learn to make Bernaise sauce. I love it, but the jarred stuff is tasteless and a waste of calories. It bears absolutely no resemblance to any tarragon on the planet.
Joan, your Parmesan Peppercorn dressing sounds fabulous!
I'm also going to try to make a blackberry vinaigrette, since I have a ton of fruit left from last season that I want to us at least some of.
Horseradish is key for cole slaw dressing!
DeleteHorseradish! Who knew?!?
DeleteI use homemade relish in my cole slaw dressing, very yummy !
DeleteHorseradish adds a lot of zip to cole slaw.
DeleteI also like to add Maytag blue cheese, but my husband doesn't care for it that way.
Karen, what else do you put in your coleslaw dressing? I love the idea of horseradish. I put horseradish in my tuna salad.
DeleteMayonnaise, agave or Steen's cane syrup, cider vinegar, a little lemon juice, Dijon mustard. My husband likes it with celery seed, but I don't always use it.
DeleteI love DIY salad dressing, but I'm usually so pressed for time it's a bottle for me. I'm a vinaigrette girl.
ReplyDeleteVinaigrette from scratch unless we're having spinach with fruit, for which I keep a bottle of Briannas blush wine vinaigrette. It's also good in half an avocado. I'll try your recipe.
ReplyDeleteSpinach with what kind of fruit??
Deletestrawberries or peaches
DeleteI'm inspired by the ideas here. I have most of the ingredients, just too brain-dead these days to think of making home-made salad dressings.
ReplyDeleteI made thousand island dressing last night for our Reubens. It's been a while and I was a bit off on the amounts so now we have enough for a week of Reubens. Haven't been very successful with vinaigrette but I do have plenty of vinegar in my cabinet. I seem to be collecting a variety of them. We used to make a hot bacon dressing for spinach salad.
ReplyDeleteThousand island dressing is great on seafood, too. Or dip celery and carrot sticks in it.
DeleteI like very light and basic dressing so I mostly make it. Just mixing with a fork.
ReplyDeleteI would add sunflower oil and canola oil to your list and lemon juice.
My favorite mix is sunflower oil with cider vinegar, S&P. I also like canola oil with lemon juice,S&P.
Sunflower oil! I've never tasted it.
DeleteI do keep sesame oil in the house for stir fry. And peanut oil which fries hotter than vegetable oil.
Definitely lemon juice.
There is a sunflower producer near home, that's how I tasted it and began to use it. He makes a first cold pressed organic sunflower oil. Very tasteful.
DeleteI should NOT have read this before eating breakfast. Now my stomach is growling.
ReplyDeleteI've always been a storebought dressing person, mostly because I've had a family where five different people want five different dressings. However, now that we're fewer and older, I'm making my own more and more, particularly now we're eating a lot of hefty dinner salads. The big breakthrough for me? Getting a dedicated dressing jar that's large, washable, with a tight screw on top so I can shake away with no worries about sending oil all over the counter.
Oh, yes, I'm a scratch dressing girl. But may I admit? I really really do not enjoy making it. And once, at a friend's house (what seems like a long time ago) they had a delicious salad. Oh, what kind of dressing is that? I asked? Kens Balsamic. All your ideas sound delicious--thank you for the master class, Hallie!
ReplyDeleteI know firsthand that you make a terrific salad dressing, Hank.
DeleteI grew up with the storebought dressing because in a family with six kids no one is going to agree on anything. My husband keeps us stocked with Paul Newman and Brianna. Once in a blue moon I may make something from scratch. I have a recipe somewhere for a walnut oil dressing for kiwi salad that’s pretty good. Or I may just pour on olive oil followed by a balsamic vinegar flavored with cranberry/pear or pomegranete.
ReplyDeleteOops. Five kids not six. Felt like more. Coffee.
DeleteReally good olive oil and an excellent vinegar are really all you need, and you can shake them directly on the salad.I like to dress the whole bowl, not individual portions - somehow you use less when you dress a bigger bowl.
DeleteI love walnut oil, Pat. I keep a little bottle in my fridge.
DeleteThanks, Everyone. Coming back later to write down your suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI don't make anything myself. Bottled all the way.
ReplyDeleteI do love from-scratch dressings, and can make good vinaigrette and a yummy Caesar. But Rick likes a plate full of raw veggies with Ranch dressing (I try to find good ones, like Marie's, that aren't full of sugar) and my preference is to just drizzle my salad (usually arugula) with some good olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. I do keep a bottle of Brianna's Asiago Caesar in the fridge, and of course I have good balsamic vinegar, etc., and sometimes I use those instead of lemon juice. If I were serving salad to company (remember that?) I would make a good vinaigrette in my walnut salad bowl, using good olive oil, wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and some fresh garlic, mashed to a paste.
ReplyDeleteI make homemade dressings all the time. I use a variety of oils, vinegars, lemon, lime and herbs. I make a thousand island type with mayo, ketchup, and relish. I also make my own tartar sauce for fish.
ReplyDeleteHallie, I am drooling over the food photos. Spinach salad with goat cheese is so good! We make our own dressing. The only time we bottle it up is if there is leftover dressing after we finish eating salad. I do not want to waste any of it. I put the leftover dressing in an empty jar to save for later.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone here lives in northern California, then perhaps you have seen a KQED (local PBS station) show about different people trying three (usually 3) restaurants and giving their reviews in a discussion with Leslie Sbocco (sp?). I remember Leslie was talking about wine and she stores left over red wine and creates vinegar from these drops of red wine for salad dressings.
We are a family of homemade dressings. And I was saying the other day that I prefer homemade salsa instead of store bought salsa.
Diana
Making a mental note... homemade salsa! I’d love to know how people make theirs
DeleteMy family homemade salsa recipe:
Deletesliced small grape tomatoes (better if they are a little old),
chopped up cilantro,
chopped up green onions,
garlic,
red pepper flakes,
lemon pepper (grind three times),
1/4 teaspoon of oregano,
lemon juice,
lime juice,
little salt,
little black pepper
dash of balsamic vinegar
LMK how your homemade salsa turns out!
While all of your homemade dressings sound delicious, I'm just not motivated to make my own dressing. I do try to use some interesting and better dressings, like the refrigerated ones in the produce section. I can't think of the brand, but there's a delicious cucumber ranch I buy from the produce section. And, I'm quite fond of Newman's Honey Mustard dressing. My husband will eat pretty much any old ranch dressing, but he usually buys Ken's.
ReplyDeleteI generally buy Kens, but I love experimenting and recently made a maple balsamic mustard dressing that was fab. From greenhealthycooking.com
ReplyDeleteI learned to cook from cooking shows. I think it was Michael Smith who taught me "twice as much oil as vinegar (or lime, or lemon) something sweet, salt, pepper and sometimes mustard and maybe an herb and there you have dressing. My interpretation of that has been really good balsamic, sunflower oil, buckwheat honey and a good prepared mustard, salt and pepper. I hold back on the oil though. I usually have a bottle in the fridge. It is easy, cheap and tastes better. And I will finish off a bottle by using it as meat marinade.
ReplyDeleteI wish you lived closer, Hallie. I’d be over at your house to eat all the time!
ReplyDelete