Salad Dressings

As a kid, my palette was very sensitive.  I hated salad dressing, and loved salad.  I still enjoy the fresh differences each morsel offers, but my taste buds have dulled.  This is a list of dressings that provide a richness to satisfy the carnivore I married, yet still let each salad ingredient shine enough for me.  All of these can be dumped in a jar and shaken or whisked in a bowl, except for My Favorite, although it might be worth a try.  I keep leftover dressing refrigerated up to a week.

My Favorite Dressing
This dressing was inspired by one I found for a pea salad by Heidi Swanson on 101 Cookbooks and takes a little more prep, but is worth it.  The original recipe, like many on the author's site, uses very high quality ingredients I just can't find at our farmer's markets or keep on hand.  I was intrigued by the creative flavors & very happy with the version I was able to achieve using what we normally have in the pantry.  In the absence of fresh green peas (which is most of the year in the Texas Panhandle) a handful of good quality frozen sweet peas thawed under cold water taste great thrown on top of a leafy green salad with this dressing.  I'd dip just about any fresh veggie or even apple slices in it.

3-4 TBS Lemon Juice (2-3 lemons juiced)
1 TBS Dry Dates (fresh or whole work & so does one fresh fig)
1 Tsp Red Chili Pepper Flakes (or one jalapeno pepper pureed)
1 TBS Dry Mint (or a few fresh leaves pureed with the pepper)

The first time I made this I didn't have any fresh ingredients except the lemon, so I soaked the dated, pepper flakes & dry mint for an hour or so while making the rest of our dinner and then milled & sieved the whole mess.  It tasted great, tangy, spicy, fresh, and yet savory without making my salad heavy with oil.  I've since used fresh ingredients and pureed it all in a blender for a thicker version.  I like both.

Ranch
1/2 Cup yogurt
1/2 Cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp of your favorite green herb (dill or parsley work well)
1 tsp dry onion or to taste (fresh white onion, green onions, leeks, or shallots are great too)
1Tbs vinegar (cider or white)
1Tbs olive oil or milk
1/4 tsp salt & pepper to taste (less if your mayo is salty)

Tahini Goddess Style Dressing
1/2 Cup Tahini
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 TBS Cider Vinegar
Juice of one Lemon
1 TBS Tamari Soy Sauce (any soy sauce will do)
2 Cloves Crushed Garlic
1 Tsp dried onion (or fresh onion to taste, green are best)
Water to thin*Tahini & Lemon form a paste, so a couple tsp of water will make the dressing incorporate & pour well.

This dressing goes particularly well with any green salad, but also pairs particularly well with avocados, potatoes, cucumbers & carrots.

Italian Vinegrette
1/3 Vinegar (Balsamic or Wine)
2/3 Olive Oil (sometimes I go a little light on this and add 1/2 & 1/2 with a little water)
1 tsp each: Basil, Oregano, Thyme
1/8 tsp each dill, rosemary or parsley, chili pepper, black pepper & salt

Miso Paprika Dressing
This dressing is divine over spinach, and has a bright red orange color.  I found the original recipe on a blog by, Susan Voisin with the sole intent of finding a way to use more miso in our diet & stumbled across this delicious combination.

1 TBS Miso
1 TBS Mayonnaise (or substitute olive oil)
3 TBS Lemon Juice (about 2 lemons juiced or use 1 lemon and 1 TBS of balsamic vinegar)
1 Clove Crushed Garlic
1/2 TBS Paprika (Smoked Paprika or Hungarian)