hit me with your favorite Salad Dressing recipe please

[NMDemDist2]

I have most everything you can name in my cupboards spice wise (and fresh basil, chives, parsley and marojam) rice vinegar, balsamic, red wine vinegar, sesame oil, EVOO, canola and plain vegetable

what works in your kitchen (hubby has agreed that creamy fattening dressings probably aren't the best for his diet

I need help with portions of stuff

TIA my foodie pals

:hi:

[murphymom]

1. Here's an idea

This is more of a technique than a recipe - I like a simple vinagrette, and what I do is measure out the amount of oil I want to allow myself, drizzle it over the salad in a big bowl and then toss the heck out of it so that everything has a very light coating. Only then do I sprinkle in the herbs, salt & pepper, and vinegar to taste. Doing it this way gives the seasonings something to stick to, and I find this flavors the salad sufficiently and avoids the big pool of dressing at the bottom. Only problem I have is that I tend to make too much salad a lot of the time, and once a salad is dressed it just turns into a soggy wilted mess that doesn't keep over.

[NMDemDist2]

2. tough to do around here, hubby takes salad for lunch everyday

i have neato freezer gel bowl thingies with a well in the lid to hold the dressing separate

:shrug:

[hippywife]

4. I make mine exactly that same way

and refrigerate the left overs. There's nothing like a big hunk of crusty bread with butter and that wilted salad over top of it. It's very, very yummy! You just need to get past how it looks and the perception that it's no good...because it really, really is! :9

[Shakespeare]

3. I have two I do almost exclusively, but they use white balsamic vinegar.

That's a Trader Joe's thing, so I'm not sure how easy it is to find.

The first is a creamy dill vinaigrette--about a tablespoon & a half of mayo (low-fat if you want), 1/4 cup white balsamic, some black pepper and a heavy dose of dill weed. It's GREAT on cold salmon salads.

The other is a dijon vinaigrette--about a tablespoon of dijon (YMMV, but it's easy to go overboard and make it too hot accidentally, in that horseradish-y kind of way), 1/4 white balsamic, black pepper and (sometimes) a dash of garlic powder.

They take about 30 seconds to mix up, so I usually make one or the other when I'm throwing together a salad in the morning before work.

Oh, and they're tasty, too!

[NMDemDist2]

5. the dijon one sound excellent!! he's not a big dill fan

but since it's gonna be growing out back, maybe I can 'gentle' him into it :evilgrin:

[Shakespeare]

6. The dijon one also has the advantage of being fat-free!

And I'm all for gentle-ing him into trying dill! :9

[NMDemDist2]

7. I gotta give it to my wise and wonderful Mr. Ketchup

since I've taken up cooking 'as a hobby' he's been quite openminded at trying new stuff

today I was at the market and the salmon looked good. he said fish was on his list of 'what sounds good to eat this week honey' and when I mentioned the salmon, he said "I don't really care for salmon but I know you like it so OK"

I made this http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x43004

and he raved about it and said "We need to put that on the regular rotation AND that's a dinner you should fix for my folks when they come, Mom would love it"

so from "I don't really care for salmon" to "Fix it for my mother" in three hours :rofl:

he's a good doobie he is

[Phentex]

9. Mine too!

My current fave is 1/4 c. white balsamic vinegar, 1/4 oil, 2 T honey, 1/2 t lemon pepper and 2 drops almond extract. Good with mixed greens, craisins, walnuts and some sliced pear or apple. I shake it to blend in a small container if I don't want to grab the stick blender. MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

[Warpy]

8. I don't generally do them

A little garlic salt does me just fine. However, back in the day, my faves were garlic, tahini, water and lemon (1/2 c tahini, 1-2 cloves garlic, 1/2 lemon, juiced, and enough water to thin it to the right consistency in the blender) and buttermilk/mayo/cider vinegar blends that I'd just make up on the spot. Emergency dressing was my mother's, 2-3 parts mayo, 1 part ketchup and 1 part mustard. I've made that one from fast food packets and people rave about it every time. It can be modified with a fast food packet of pickle relish into a decent thousand island.

If you want to cut the calories, don't pour the dressing over the salad. Serve it in a small bowl off to the side and dip.