Your fave homemade dressings?

[JTA Mom]

I love salads. Especially right now, I'm on a romaine kick. First pregnancy where I crave veggies.

Now, I am baaaaaad at coming up with dressing mixes. So I stick to olive oil and sea salt.

But that is getting boring.

What are your fave homemade dressings? Recipes, even if just 'parts' verses exact measurements would be lovely!

And, what are your fave ways of eating said dressing?

For example, my fave way of eating said olive oil & salt dressing is on a cucumber, tomato and onion salad.

Ami

[robugmum]

We never buy dressings at all.
Our salads usually have salt, pepper and a pinch of mustard powder, then 3 parts oil (e.v.o.o. or some kind of nut oil) to 2 parts vinegar (whatever type we feel like).
The salad itself (depending on the season)
usually a mix of greens, with cucumbers, avocados, peppers, green onions, tomatoes if available...
or in winter, cabbage, with shredded beets, carrots, apples, raisins, nuts etc (with this one I use apple cider vinegar or lemon juice)

oh, we make a mean ceasar too!
evoo, an egg, anchovies, garlic, parmesan, mustard, lemon

[cristeen]

Blue cheese dressing is a fave around here.
1 part each sr cream, plain yogurt, mayo, crumbled blue cheese, chopped flat-leaf parsley. 1 garlic clove, pressed, a splash of white vinegar and a pinch of salt.

I also make a honey-dijon vinaigrette with about a tsp each of dijon and honey, a Tbs or so of white wine vinegar, and walnut oil.

Sometimes I'll make a vinaigrette with pomegranate molasses as the base, sometimes a sweet "french dressing" with sugar, paprika and some dill. It all depends on the salad.

Some faves are:
Mixed greens with shredded chicken, sliced banana, toasted coconut, peanuts and red bell pepper with a tart vinaigrette.
Mixed greens with smoked duck breast, dried cranberries, candied pecans and blue cheese with a sweet vinaigrette.
Taco salad with leaf lettuce (not mixed greens, something more substantial) meat, cheese, olives, green chiles, beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, etc., with a dressing of taco sauce/salsa and mayo/sour cream.

[robugmum]

mmmm, that blue cheese one sounds scrumptious! I'll have to try it!

[Magelet]

my favorite, most made dressing is about oh.... 4 or 5 parts olive oil to 1 part vinegar? that vinegar being half balsamic and half red wine. a large dollap (2 parts?) mustard, and salt. I don't the precise parts, I just fiddle til it tastes perfect.

In making dressings, I try to keep it simple. Most of my dressings have 1 acidic element, 1 sweet element, mustard, oil and salt, and at most, 1 "Exotic" ingrediant. acidic could be lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, red or white wine vinegar, sweet might be molasses, honey, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, pomogranate molasses is great. with exotic ingrediants, that might be umeboshi brine, sourkrout brine, an herb, etc.

other favorite dressing combos are:
aprox 5 parts olive oil, 1 part apple cider vinegar, .5 part molasses, salt and mustard, (I make a more vinegary salty version of this for french green lentil salad (half oil have vingar, and lots of salt)
lemon juice, buttermilk, salt, olive oil, honey
olive oil, red wine vinegar, pomogranate molasses, salt, mustard

(the mustard is an emulsifier)

also delicious is cheddar cheese dressing (I know it sounds weird). it's basically mayo, yogurt and/or buttermilk, chedder cheese, salt, lemon juice blended together. It's yummy as is, or as a dip for carrots etc.

honestly, salad for me is usually lettuce (whatever organic head lettuce is cheapest, almost always romaine), raisins and the first mentioned balsamic dressing. it's really good, and really easy.

for carrot or celery salads (more like coleslaw) I like a creamy dressing, either like the chedder dressing, or yogurt/yogurt cream, lemon juice, salt, and some herbs/spices/something else

[staceychev]

I'd say that 95% of the time, we do a vinaigrette. We've got a couple of those "Good Seasons" dressing bottles, so there's often home-made dressing in the fridge.

Basic vinaigrette:
* dijon mustard
* salt & pepper
* honey
* vinegar: either all balsamic, all apple cider, or a mix
* oil: either all olive oil, or some flax oil mixed with it


If I have fresh herbs, and if I'm feeling like doing something that involves cleaning the blender, I'll make the Angelica Kitchen house dressing, which is so yummy and green-tasting:

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (I like flat leaf, myself)
1 whole scallion, rinsed and sliced
1/4 cup tahini
1 tbs umeboshi paste (I buy the plums and just use those)
1/2 cup water

Puree all ingredients in the blender. Because the ingredients are really fresh, it only keeps a couple of days in the fridge.

[Ola_]

I do a basic balsamic vinegarette. Basically just some olive oil (depending on how big the salad), some balsamic vinegar (a bit less than the amount of olive oil). Add in some salt, and a bit of dijon mustard and mix it up with a fork. Recently I got a tip here to add a little maple syrup to it also - I quite like it but DH doesn't.

You can adjust the proportions to suit your taste, if you like more or less vinegar, different type, etc. Normally what I do is mix it up, then prepare the salad, then add the dressing and mix. Nice and easy.

[sellendie]

We often make an orange vinaigrette, which is super easy and wonderful on Asian inspired salads with fish.

[deditus]

3 parts evoo
2 part ACV
1 part maple syrup
Celtic sea salt to taste

[Chicky2]

Blueberry basil vinegar (home made), evoo, salt, cayenne, and honey. MMMMMM!

[SophieAnn]

1 part maple syrup
1 part mayo
2-3 parts oil (a neutral one that is light/flavourless)

It's delicious on a spinach salad, or any salad where you are incorporating fruit and nuts with greens.

[cristeen]

Oh, I also wanted to point out that this question gets asked every 2-3 months, so if you go digging you'll find lots of posts on the subject.

[kjbrown92]

I have a Good Seasons cruet, so I use the measurements on the side to do the vinegar (white balsamic or red wine), water, and oil (olive oil). Then I add a Tbs. German mustard or 1/2 tsp. mustard powder, two minced garlic cloves, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. black pepper, 1/2 tsp. parsley, 1/2 tsp. oregano, and a little onion powder.

I like my salads (lettuce, pepper, cucumber, carrots) with pine nuts and Craisins.

[greeny]

I mix dijon mustard, honey, & olive oil to taste/consistency.

[JessicaS]

Olive oil
Champagne Vinegar (balsamic also works great)
Salt
Ground Pepper
Lemon juice
garlic
mustard, dry or Dijon
thyme, rosemary, lavender
a little Worcestershire

I keep an herb garden but when I run out and it is all frozen I just use herbs de Provence instead, it is a blend you can buy at the grocery, Frontier sells it too.

Most people like sugar in theirs but I like mine tart. (like me! )


I also like to mix raspberry jam (some people will find this crazy, I just don't like a ton of bottles in my fridge )
Balsamic
fresh rosemary
(toss all in food processor)

I like to eat that over a salad of spinach, strawberries, walnuts, raisins and red onions

[JTA Mom]

Thanks for all the ideas! My salads will be very interesting for a good long while now.

You guys who can just 'throw' things together until they look right amaze me. I don't have that skill, so I either over-vinegar or over-oil a salad. It's bad enough my family has banned me from making up dressings. I am good at following 'parts' recipes, though.

Originally Posted by cristeen

Blue cheese dressing is a fave around here.
1 part each sr cream, plain yogurt, mayo, crumbled blue cheese, chopped flat-leaf parsley. 1 garlic clove, pressed, a splash of white vinegar and a pinch of salt.

Cristeen, I think you are a woman after my heart! That dressing sound soooooooo good. I bet it's even better than the bottled stuff, and I <3 the bottled stuff. Is it really, really thick, or do you add enough yogurt to make it 'runny'?

Originally Posted by sellendie

We often make an orange vinaigrette, which is super easy and wonderful on Asian inspired salads with fish.

How do you make your orange vinaigrette? What vinegar do you use?

I just found an 'asian' salad dressing:
2tbs brown sugar
1tsp soy sauce
1tbs sesame oil
3tbs rice vinegar
1tbs sesame seed
and 1/4c oil.

And it's lovely! I made a big huge batch of romaine, green onion and mandarin salad to eat it with. It's good enough I want to drink it. It seems like it will be really good with chicken, beef, anything leafy, cucumbers, mushrooms, carrots, bread....

Now with all these other dressing recipes, I'm going to wow everyone with my 'newfound' skill. Shhh, no telling!

Ami

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by JTA Mom

You guys who can just 'throw' things together until they look right amaze me. I don't have that skill, so I either over-vinegar or over-oil a salad. It's bad enough my family has banned me from making up dressings. I am good at following 'parts' recipes, though.

Never mix the dressing ON the salad. Mix the dressing in the bowl. Take a piece of lettuce and dip it in the dressing and taste it. Only when it's good do you Add the produce and toss the salad. As for parts... I seem to recall reading an article about the differences in style of dressing making a difference in the "parts" used. Something like when you're making a broken dressing you use more vinegar and when you're making an emulsified one you use less. And yet they come out tasting of similar strength. I rarely measure my oil/vinegar though. I add oil first, then drizzle in the oil while whisking to emulsify. Stop and taste, whisk, stop and taste, whisk, until it tastes right.

Originally Posted by JTA Mom

Cristeen, I think you are a woman after my heart! That dressing sound soooooooo good. I bet it's even better than the bottled stuff, and I <3 the bottled stuff. Is it really, really thick, or do you add enough yogurt to make it 'runny'?

It's really thick. And we stopped buying the bottled stuff when I discovered this recipe. When you taste it, adjust the amount of vinegar, but you really only need a splash (whether it's a lg splash or a sm splash). If I don't have the parsley, I leave it out and it's still good, but it definitely adds a component to the recipe.

[Magelet]

oh goodness, mix the salad dressing in a seperate bowl for sure!!! salad dressing, good or bad, sucks unless it's properly coating the leaves (which means it's well tossed. gently. clean hands is way better than tossing utensils.

plus, you want to be able to coat the leaves in an emuslification, or at least a mix of oil and vinegar and not just one.

Tasting a lot is also how you learn the sweet spot for salting a vinegrette. There is this perfect sweet spot where it doesn't taste salty, but it perfectly brings out the vinegar flavor, and makes everything sing. However, much beyond it, and it gets salty. before, and it's boring. so what I did to learn was salt just a tiny tiny tiny bit, whisk, taste, salt, whisk taste salt, etc, for many many salads.

[redvlagrl]

My basic Vinaigrette (I keep a jar in the fridge) is:
2 parts balsamic
1 part EVOO
1 clove of garlic, minced/crushed/microplaned
dollop of grainy mustard

Green Potato Salad Dressing
I make a homemade mayo with EVOO, egg and lemon then add garlic and heaps of fresh herbs - whatever I have - chives, parsley, basil etc etc. Then I mix this half and half with plain yogurt. It's a huge hit when I take it to potlucks and is a nice birght green colour

Lemon Oil (slowly heat slices of lemon in EVOO, store in fridge)
Rice Vinegar

EVOO
Rice vinegar
soy sauce

[StoriesInTheSoil]

I make it by throwing things in a bowl and fork-ing it

Tonight it was:

EVOO
Bragg's ACV
Balsamic Vinegar
Dry Mustard
Kelp flakes

On a salad of baby greens, arugula, baby spinich, roma tomato, and avocado. Yummy!