Dressing the salad.....bottled or homemade?
The crowning touch of any salad is the delectable dressing. Just the right one can turn a ho-hum bowl of ingredients into a harmonious composition. Salads are varied----green leafy, no leafy greens vegetable, bean, slaw, pasta, potato & fruit. Bottled or homemade----what puts your salad on the best-dressed list? Share some recommendations & recipes.
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20 Comments:
I never use bottled dressing. Making most dressings is easy, and I never measure, I just throw in and taste. I use lemon or mustard vinaigrette most nights. If my salad has an Asian theme, I put a little sesame oil, some ginger, a little soy sauce, and orange juice into a vinaigrette with rice wine vinegar. When I am not counting calories, I make creamy blue cheese(mayo, sourcream, mild blue cheese,a little lemon juice, a little vinegar, salt and pepper) green goddess, or Russian dressing. I even take leftover pesto, add a little mayo, and make dressing. I think the most important thing (as in most cooking) is to use the best extra virgin olive oil, good mustard, fresh herbs,fresh lemon juice, etc.
Mich23 at 7:05PM on 08/19/07
We make dressings a lot, but the one bottled we keep in the house is Trader Joe's Fat Free Balsamic dressing. Its got some good tang and its easy and quick for a fast salad. As Mich23 said, we make a lemony or mustardy vinaigrette pretty often. I also like to make a roasted tomato vinaigrette with whatever sort of tomatoes in the oven until they start to shrivel up a bit, some lemon juice, salt, pepper, balsamic and olive oil...I buzz it in the small cup attachment of my immersion blender. I like it very tangy, so I use a lot of lemon and vinegar.
ccbweb at 9:32PM on 08/19/07
both...i do try to make my own as much as i can. i like to experiment with flavors and it is so easy to make. however, i do like trader joe's balsamic dressing so i use that too.
spaghetti at 9:51PM on 08/19/07
I never buy dressing. I usually do a variation of the same dressing. Coarse mustard, s & p, some sort of vinegar (red/balsamic/white) or fresh lemon juice, and olive oil. sometimes throw in some herbs or minced garlic.
ceforrester at 9:37AM on 08/20/07
My house dressing, courtesy of Michael Lomonaco:
¼ cup champagne vinegar
3 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon clover honey
4 large peeled shallots, thinly sliced, about 1/4 cup
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
Put everything but the oil in a food processor and process until shallots are finely chopped. With the processor running, drizzle in the oil.
This keeps for a week in the fridge.
Cathy at 11:32AM on 08/20/07
We eat a lot of salads (daily) and I make a lot of marinades.
I also use some store bought (shhhh) stuff.
I love Athenos brand feta cheese greek dressing which I enhance with chopped up kalamata olives and more feta cheese.
I use Penzeys italian dressing mix and good seasons for the base for some of my marinades and have been doing that for decades. When I need a good marinade right away nothing is quicker. You pick your oil and vinegar. When I make carolina style bbq marinade I add pepper mash to it.
I also use them for making pasta salad dressings, I also enhance them with my own touches.
I love Marie's blue chese dressing. It is almost as good as my own. It has been around forever.
I always make ranch dressing, nothng tastes better than homemade ranch.
Cardinis caesar is not bad but homemade is better.
We keep Steve's Steakhouse honey mustard dressing in the house but it is used for kids who like to "dip" or to use as a sandwich condiment.
Trader Joes has some nice dressings that I buy on and off for quick salads. Ginger Soy, Balsamics.
My husband makes a great vinaigrette and when he makes the salad he does it his way.
JerzeeTomato at 12:26PM on 08/20/07
I don't think it's been several years since I've purchased salad dressing. I usually just squeeze fresh lemon with salt and pepper and I am happy. My signature salad dressing, that I actually get request to make, is honey, cider vinegar, olive oil, red onions thinnly sliced. I let it sit for 30 min before putting on a salad of mixed greens, blue cheese, and walnuts.
malenky at 12:31PM on 08/20/07
i was lucky to grow up in a family where the salad was always dressed and the thought of eating bottled dressing is totatlly foreign to me. all i use is lemon, dijon, salt, and olive oil, and if i have some herbs, might throw those in.
carriebwc at 1:47PM on 08/20/07
I do both. One of my favourite bottled dressings is Annie's Natural's Goddess Dressing. I avoid Kraft and the like. I find that I can often taste their preservatives.
When I make my own it's usually pretty simple and depends on my mood and what the rest of the meal contains- if the salad isn't the whole meal. Sometimes a squeeze of lemon, grind of pepper and sprinkling of coarse salt is all that's needed, other times I'll match the flavours to what I'm making, which could mean using some of the same ingredients that I'm using in a marinade. If I'm eating a herb salad base that has cilantro in it I might make a lime-based vinaigrette.
CanadianFoodieGirl at 2:08PM on 08/20/07
I haven't bought a bottled dressing in over 15 years.
Its so easy to whip up something at home. A standard one is red or sherry wine vinegar, shredded garlic and ginger, a dash of soya sauce, minced chives, salt and pepper and lashings of olive oil. Goes on everything from a simple salad to salad topped with blanched vegetables. So tasty that you could munch on it while preparing dinner.
flakevanille at 4:04PM on 08/20/07
If you have mustard, oil, and something acidic (some kind of vinegar or lemon juice) then there is no reason to ever buy dressing. You dont need a blender or food processor either. All you need is a big bowl and a spoon to mix it all together. The mustard is an emulsifier, use as little as you need to get the oil and acid to blend into a uniform liquid. Add anything you want to season it. I like to use hazelnut oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard and coarsely ground mixed pepper corns as my base. Then depending on my mood or what I have on hand, I add anchovy fillets (which have mashed into a paste with my spoon), finely minced garlic, shallots, tarragon, marjoram, oregano (all herbs must be FRESH never dried). I don't usually add salt because the mustard is salty enough. If you don't have mustard, a raw egg yolk is also excellent. That will give you a richer dressing, essentially a mayonaise.
seyo at 5:07PM on 08/20/07
Thanks for all of the tips & recipes everyone has shared----I will add these to my salads for more variety! What about potato, slaw or fruit salads---any special ingredients in those dressings?
JEP at 5:50PM on 08/20/07
NEVER store-bought.
My recipe, from my long-passed Daddy:
salt mashed with garlic clove (@ 1/4 tsp)
pepper (@ 1/2 tsp)
dijon mustard (@ 1 T)
1/4 C your favorite vinegar
1/2 C olive oil
Oddly, most folks who come to my table think there is some magic to do with this, and refuse to try it at home. Like they need our bowl or our whisk or something. Beats the hell out of me.
For potato salad, I use home made mayo thinned with vinegar to taste. But Best Foods is pretty good, thinned with the juice from pickle relish. Slaw, I make a cooked white dressing or just use vinegar, salt and pepper.
dksbook at 9:44AM on 08/21/07
The first time I was cooking for my French husband, I asked him if he wanted French dressing on his salad and he asked me, "What's that?" I brought the bottle out of the refrigerator and showed him that bright orange stuff with French Dressing on the label. He looked a little apalled and said, "Why don't I make the dressing?" which he did with olive oil, vinegar and digon mustard. It was an eye opener for me. That's the only way I make it now except I add some dry parsely and garlic. I love to use balsamic vinegar but he doesn't like it as it is too sweet for him, the purist. For potato salad I marinade the potatoes first in the basic dressing above and then mix in just a little mayo with maybe a splash of pickle juice.
lpennin104 at 10:02AM on 08/21/07
I make a fruit salad with assorted berries and mango, and I put orange juice, orange zest and honey. We eat it by itself, over yogurt, or on ice cream. Quite tasty!
Mich23 at 12:42PM on 08/21/07
One main complaint about most bottled dressings (aside from the freshness factor) is the incredible amount of sodium they contain. My mom used to use those Good Seasons packets, but I haven't seen them in a while. And thanks to CanadianFoodieGirl for the tip about the Annie's dressings; next time I'm in Albuquerque, plan to pick up several varieties to sample. Homemade is fresher and better, but am always on the lookout for new and tasty flavor couplings. Oooh-la-la! Food is so sexy, isn't it?
hatlady at 5:47PM on 08/21/07
I love making home-made dressing, and after living in Spain, I never dress my salads from a bottle. However - there is one large exception to this: Japanese salad dressings. I have been in Japan twice, of course, they know how to do packaged dressing right. I am always on the prowl for new flavours of japanese dressings to keep my palate surprised. Wafu, is of course, an old standard, but I can't seem to find it in the UK
B
http://handtomouthkitchen.wordpress.com
handtomouth at 6:50PM on 08/21/07
Thanks for sharing ideas for the potato & fruit salads & thoughts on bottled dressings. Interesting to hear about dressings available in other parts of the world---thanks!
JEP at 5:50AM on 08/22/07
I tend to do homemade: it's fast, it's cheap, and I can make small batches at a time so it doesn't go to waste.
My favorite dressing to go with my grilled beef and mesclun salad: once I've finished pan-searing my little steaks, I let it rest. In the meantime, under med heat, I stir in some olive oil into the pan to scrape up the good bits, squeeze in a couple of juicy limes, add fish sauce/pinch of sugar/chopped thai bird chili to taste. Then I pour in the juices that the steaks have left on the plate. Cut steaks, arrange prettily on top of some mesclun/spring greens, and spoon warm dressing over it all.
SO good.
lorelei76 at 12:52PM on 08/22/07
I'm right in line with most of the posts so far...I love a good old fashioned mustard/vinegar/olive oil vinaigrette.
If you want to go low-fat, however (which my wife occasionally insists that we do), pick up some xanthan gum in the baking aisle of a Whole Foods, etc. v">Bob's Red Mill markets it. It's one of the additives that the big food companies use to emulsify/thicken their salad dressings.
Since most vinaigrette recipes call for a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of oil to water-type ingredients (in order to create a thick suspension), they can be incredibly calorie-rich. When I do the low-fat thing, I'll add 1/8 tsp xanthan gum and reduce the oil to a 1:1 ratio, replacing what I left out with water.
When you whisk it all together, it will have the same consistency and mouth-feel as a regular vinaigrette but will have up to 2/3 less fat and calories -- without sacrificing much in the way of flavor or texture.
Of course, some people are sensitive to xanthan gum (particularly people with allergies to corn) so be careful!
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 6:43PM on 08/22/07