Honey Mustard Dressing

If you're out of salad dressing, there's a good chance you already have all these ingredients on hand. It makes you wonder...if a fresh, delicious honey mustard dressing is so simple, why do the leading brands each have like 20 ingredients? And I'm pretty sure a few of them don't even qualify as actual food. I also don't get why they have to add yellow #5 to make it brighter. Even if my pale yellow dressing was harder to spot on my salad, I could taste it was there.

HONEY MUSTARD DRESSING

Yield: 3/4 cup

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Whisk everything together in a bowl. Store covered in the refrigerator.

from allrecipes.com by Mary Ann Benzon

mustard and mayonnaise

adding honey

lemon

whisking

honey mustard dressing

dressing the salad

salad dressed

.

Champagne Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette is so basic, yet so versatile. You can add any herbs, spices or seasonings you want (or change the oil/vinegar to suit your taste too). This particular one is a favorite of mine. It's sweet (honey), acidic (lemon juice/vinegar), pungent (garlic), tangy (dijon mustard) and has a very small amount of heat (tabasco). It just all comes together to make, in my opinion, the perfect dressing. (When everyone is reaching for seconds on salad, you know you're on to something.)

CHAMPAGNE VINAIGRETTE

Makes 1 to 1 1/4 cups

1 garlic clove, finely chopped or pressed

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

1/4 cup champagne vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons honey

2 or 3 dashes hot sauce (like tabasco)

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1.      In a large measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the garlic, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, honey, hot sauce, salt, and pepper.

2.      Slowly whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is emulsified.

barely adapted from Epicurious, May 2009 by Patrick and Gina Neely

garlic

pressed garlic

dijon mustard

lemon

adding honey

adding tabasco

adding olive oil

whisking

champagne vinaigrette

dressing the salad

.

Shaved Asparagus with Parmesan Vinaigrette

Here's a new way to look at an old favorite (if you like asparagus). I thought about using my mandoline for this job (but I could easily envision a trip to the emergency room). So I took out my vegetable peeler like the recipe suggested. At first it seemed impossible that my peeler could do anything but mangle my lovely asparagus (and the first one was pretty mutilated). But I quickly got a good rhythm going and was done before I knew it.

I love the way shaving the asparagus tranforms the texture (I would never consider munching on a raw spear otherwise). And because they are raw, they make a nice cold salad for picnics or cookouts, especially for the raw foodist in your life (don't ask me what a raw foodist is doing at a cookout).

SHAVED ASPARAGUS WITH PARMESAN VINAIGRETTE

Makes 4 servings

12 large asparagus spears (about 1 pound), trimmed and peeled

1/4 cup finely grated parmesan, plus a piece for shaving

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.      Working with 1 asparagus spear at a time, use a vegetable peeler to shave spears into long, thin shavings. Transfer to a medium bowl (the tips will snap off as spears get thinner; add to bowl).

2.      Combine grated parmesan and lemon juice in a small bowl and slowly whisk in oil until well blended. Season vinaigrette generously with salt and pepper.

3.      Drizzle vinaigrette over shaved asparagus and toss to coat. Divide asparagus salad among plates. Use peeler to shave more parmesan over salad.

from Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer

asparagus (thick spears work best for shaving)

I discarded the tough top and bottom layers.

This is an example of how nice they look when the tip
stays in tact. But don't expect them all come out that way.
If the tip breaks off, just throw it in the bowl.

bowl of asparagus ribbons

closeup of asparagus ribbons

lemon halves

It's always best to use fresh ingredients whenever possible.
But that's especially true when you're using only a few simple
ingredients (you really want those flavors to shine through).

mixing the vinaigrette

shaved asparagus mixed with parmesan vinaigrette

.

Cider Vinaigrette

This is a basic vinaigrette, made with apple cider vinegar and sweetened with frozen apple juice concentrate. You can switch any ingredient in this recipe to suite your taste. Use a different oil, vinegar, sweetener or spices. Add mustard or garlic. Go nuts. (Mmm, nuts.)

CIDER VINAIGRETTE

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil (or canola oil)

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed

2 tablespoons minced red onion

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Whisk all ingredients in a small bowl. Adjust seasonings to taste.

slightly adapted from Bon Appétit, November 2001

Measuring only 1 1/2", I think I may have
found the world's cutest little red onion.

chopped

vinaigrette mixed

salad ready to dress and toss

.

Blood Orange Vinaigrette

I knew I wanted to make a salad with blood orange segments on top, because their color is just so incredible. So using the juice in the vinaigrette was a no brainer. 

You can use this on whatever salad you like (ours was made with green leaf lettuce, cucumbers, goat cheese, red onions and dried cranberries). And it was good.

  BLOOD ORANGE VINAIGRETTE
Yield: about 1 cup

1/3 cup fresh blood orange juice (or regular orange juice)

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 cup canola oil

Whisk together orange juice, lime juice, garlic, shallot, honey, salt, pepper and cumin. Add oil in a slow stream, whisking until well blended. Season to taste (you might need more honey if your blood orange juice is very tart).

adapted from Gourmet, August 2001

To supreme an orange (that's what it's called when you slice
out the segments), first use a sharp knife to cut off the peel.

Then use your knife to separate the segments from
the white pithy membrane on each side (do this over
a bowl to catch both the segments and the juice)

If my hand looks a little awkward in the above photo, it's
because I'm actually holding the orange & knife in my left
hand and taking the photo with my right hand. Not bad, eh?

See, you get lots of nice juice too (you can use that in the vinaigrette).

the salad

Romaine & Gorgonzola Salad with Pears, Roasted Garlic Dressing & Spiced Pecans

I suppose you'll either love or hate this salad, depending on how you feel about blue cheese. Some people think it smells like stinky gym socks. Maybe I'm smelling impaired, but I like it. If you don't like gorgonzola and would rather eat actual stinky gym socks, try another cheese or just try the roasted garlic dressing. I roasted a whole extra bulb of garlic, just so I could squish the cloves onto some bread (it was delicious, but I admit, the squishing was a major part of the appeal).

 

 ROMAINE AND GORGONZOLA SALAD WITH PEARS,

ROASTED GARLIC DRESSING AND SPICED PECANS

Makes 4-6 servings

Roasted Garlic Dressing:
11 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons apple cider

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

salt and black pepper to taste

8 cups bite-size pieces romaine or green leaf lettuce (about 1 large head)

1 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
1-2 ripe pears, chopped 

1 cup Spiced Pecans (or plain toasted, chopped pecans would be nice too)

1.      Preheat oven to 350° F. Toss garlic with oil in small baking dish. Cover dish tightly with foil. Bake until garlic is golden and tender, about 45 minutes. Cool. Squeeze garlic from skins. Reserve oil.

2.      Transfer roasted garlic to food processor. Add honey, vinegar, cider and mustard and blend well. With processor running, slowly add reserved garlic oil. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.

3.      Toss lettuce with 1/2 cup of the gorgonzola, chopped pears and enough dressing to coat. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and spiced pecans and serve.

adapted from Fork restaurant, Philadelphia, PA

garlic cloves before roasting (remember, don't peel them)

roasted garlic cloves

If you want to roast garlic on its own, you don't need all the extra oil in this recipe (that's for making the dressing).  Just preheat the oven to 375° F.  Slice the top off a head of garlic (so you can see just a little of each clove).  Place in a small baking dish (or on a piece of aluminum foil) and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil (try to coat all the cloves). Wrap completely with aluminum foil. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the cloves are brown on the edges and the garlic is soft.  Cool and squeeze out the roasted garlic.