Ger-Nis INTERNATIONAL, LLC

Snazzy Spring Salad Dressings: Creative Free Style in the Kitchen

With spring comes a plethora of vegetables and fresh inspiration of creative free spirit. After a winter of cold, dark and hearty, we crave the newness of spring, our creative juices begin to flow with more light, warmth and with springs magical bounty we are further inspired. In springtime it is inevitable that salads and vegetables take center stage and with a well stocked kitchen, a little bit of time, spring vegetables and herbs, and a love of taste diversity, homemade salad dressings, are the obvious choice to snazzy up our spring time meals.

Creativity and experimentation are the real key components of home salad dressing making. The idea of making one’s own salad dressing vs. purchasing premade salad dressings is the lure of diversity of taste and flavor. No matter how great the recipe is there are too many variables in salad dressing preferences to make them fool proof every single time. So with a little working knowledge of the basic ideas between the classic and modern day recipes and creative spirit ready to try, your salads can be a way to not only taste spring's new flavors, but as a creative outlet in the kitchen, making the salad dressing maker the master of creative freestyle, in the kitchen.

There are three basic components to understand when it comes to what we call freestyle salad dressing making. Oil, Fat & Dairy, Vinegar & Acid, and Flavor & Binding Components. With a little working knowledge of these components you will be able to create salad dressings to match the desired flavor.

Oils, Fat & Dairy

The first basic component of salad dressings offers us a wide array of choices including the mother of all oils, olive oil. Today we are not limited in our choices for oils, even the rarest oils are found in our local grocery stores and specialty markets. In addition to regular oils there are a number of flavored oils, flavored with chilies, herbs, garlic, ginger and more. We did not include all the different options on the flavored herbs so feel free to experiment with the flavored oils of your choice. We included dairy in this category with fats and oils as even though today many tend to use fat free dairy products, they are still widely used as “fat “based components of salad dressings. We cannot forget the classic fat, real fat or lard. This is still a highly used component around the world and is making somewhat of a comeback in many restaurants throughout the world, with bacon grease salad dressings being the forerunner.

Here are some of the basic oil, fat & dairy components

Oils	Fats	Dairy
Olive oil	Bacon Grease	Milk
Walnut oil		Buttermilk
Sesame oil		Yogurt
Pistachio oil		Mayonnaise
Almond oil		Sour Creme
Hazelnut oil		Crème Fresh
Truffle oil

 

Vinegar & Acid

One of the most vital and most misunderstood elements of the salad dressing, the acid or vinegar, gives the major portion of the zest to the salad or item needing to be complimented or “dressed”. Because the acidity of most vinegars or acid components variesconsiderably, many of the recipes we try to create and follow at home often don’t translate to the reality we are seeking. Taste is by far the best measurement of acidity with a good recipe as your guide. Another misunderstanding is what exactly constitutes acidity. The answer is that the options are endless and vary with personal preference, while many high acid components can be masked with more oil, dairy or fat; we advise that if you seek a lower acid dressing, seek and use lower acid components. For example substitute a tangerine for a lemon, sweet rice wine vinegar for red wine vinegar and so on.

Where in the fat, oil and dairy components we typically use or choose just one, with the acid components we can use several, for instance, lemon juice and red wine vinegar, rice vinegar and papaya, tomatoes and white wine vinegar.

Here are some of the vinegar & acid components.

Vinegars	Acid
Red Wine (H)	Lemon (H)	Pineapple (M)
Balsamic (M)	Lime (H)	Papaya (L)
Rice Wine (L)	Meyer Lemon (L)	Mango (L)
White Wine (M)	Grapefruit (M)	Tomatoes (L)
Apple Cider (H)	Mandarin/Tangerine (L)
Champagne (L)	Blood Orange (L)
Sherry (M)	Oranges (L)
* H = high acid content M = medium acid content L = low acid content

 

Flavor & Binding Components

Flavor components are not necessarily designed to just simply add or enhance flavor, the flavor components often times bind to other components together often with very distinct and enhancingflavors. They are often a great binding agent to the acid & vinegar or oil, fat or dairy, they meld in a way that creates not only highly enhanced flavors and highlighted herbs and spices but they create great texture, fluidity and smoothness. Flavor componentsare often a lot of little things including salt, pepper, herbs, spices, and other common and not so common items. They take extreme or specific flavor that combines well with the other components and typically work together as a group to finish the dressing.

Binding	Basics	Herbs & Spices
Tahini	Salt	Garlic
Peanut Butter	Pepper	Shallot
Honey	Sugar (White Sugar & Brown)	Scallions
Mustard		Ginger
Chutney's		Fresh Herbs
Cheese		Dried Spices
Soy Products
Anchovies

 

The 3 basic component groups that make up the ingredients for salad dressings have an almost endless list of possibilities;the above charts are just some of the basics. With these three components; Fat/Oil/Dairy, Acid & Vinegar, and Flavor and Binding you can create dynamic and flavorful dressings designed for the pallet of your choice highlighting the flavors and textures of your choice. The kitchen becomes a canvas and creativity is free to soar.

Here are some of our favorite classic salad dressings and some more exotic ones all enhanced with fresh herbs! Try the dressings as dips, marinades, on vegetables, in rice, quinoa and bean salads and on fresh fruit and fruit salads.

Buttermilk Herb Ranch Dressing
Makes approx 1 ½ cups

½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons mustard (Dijon or regular)
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 tablespoons grated red onion
1 tablespoon shallot, chopped fine
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together mayonnaise, buttermilk, lemon juice, garlic salt and mustard. Mix well. Add onions and shallots and fresh herbs and whisk together well until smooth and creamy. Add salt and lemon juice to taste.

**Serve with a chopped turkey salad

French Tomato Tarragon Dressing
Makes approx ¾ cup

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped tomatoes
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons of fresh tarragon, chopped
Salt/pepper

In a medium bowl combine the vinegar, the mustard, and tomatoes and whisk together well, add the oil and whisk the dressing until it is emulsified. Stir in the t tarragon, and add salt and pepper to taste.

**Serve over fresh steamed asparagus

Herbal Honey Mustard Dressing
Makes approx ¾ cup

1 tablespoon chopped thyme or lemon thyme
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
¼ cup champagne vinegar
Juice of one large lemon
2 cloves garlic chopped fine
½ medium shallots chopped fine
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoons whole grain mustard
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt/pepper

In a medium glass jar with lid combine all ingredients and shake well.Or In a medium mixing bowl whisk together all ingredients until emulsified well.

** Serve with a butter leaf lettuce and red onion salad

Pesto Buttermilk Dressing
Makes approx 1 ½ cups

½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons mustard (Dijon or regular)
1 tablespoon shallot, chopped fine
¼ cup basil, chopped
Salt/pepper

**Drizzle over steamed baby new potatoes

Blend all ingredients together with a blender or hand held processor, blend well and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Herby Anchovy Garlic Dressing
Makes approx 1 cup

2 anchovy filets, rinsed and dried
2 cloves garlic chopped
Juice and zest of 1 large lemon
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
2 teaspoons thyme, chopped
2 teaspoon parsley, chopped
2 teaspoon chives, chopped
Salt/pepper

In a medium bowl mash the anchovies with the garlic and form a paste, whisk together withthe paste lemon juice, olive oil, and mustard. Whisking rapidly until emulsified, add the fresh herbs and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

**Serve over baby romaine leaves with hearty herb croutons

Cucumber Feta Dill
Makes approx 1 ½ cups

1 medium sized cucumber, peeled but not deseeded and chopped fine
1 c Greek yogurt
¼ cup feta drained and crumbled
1 clove garlic chopped fine
¼ cup fresh dill, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper

Blend all ingredients together with a blender or hand held processor, blend well and season with salt and pepper to taste.

**Serve over a spring pea and radish salad

Curry Cilantro Mint Yogurt
Makes approx 1 ½ cups

1 c Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons mint, chopped
Juice of 2 limes and zest of 1
1 tablespoon curry powder
Salt/pepper

In a medium mixing bowl blend all ingredients together with a whisk.

**Serve over Cauliflower salad, use for curry chicken salad or with a fresh pea salad.

Balsamic Herbed Tahini
Makes approx ¾ cup

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
Juice of 2 lemons (approx 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon tahini (hulled or unhulled)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped fine
1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped fine
Salt/pepper

Whisk together in a small mixing bowl garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and tahini, until emulsified well.

** Serve with mixed baby greens or mesclun mix salad

Strawberry Basil Champagne Vinaigrette
Makes approx ¾ cup

2 strawberries, cleaned and destemmed, and chopped finely
½ cup champagne vinaigrette
2 tablespoons hazelnut oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped fine

**Serve with a spinach & strawberry salad with almonds

Ginger Honey Mint Dressing
Makes approx ¾ cup

¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon grated ginger
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped fine

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients together until blended well.

**Serve over fresh tropical fruit like spring mangoes, papaya and pineapples……