A few weeks back, while I was camping, I left you all with a post on making your own basic vinaigrette. It was a post I’d been meaning to do for some time, once I’d figured out how easy a homemade vinaigrette really is. While there are still moments where I reach for the quick fix of a bottled vinaigrette, most often, I make my own.
But why stop there? Why stop with just a vinaigrette? What if I want something a little more creamy? Do I reach for a bottle of pre-made creamy dressing? Well, actually, yes, usually I do. But the other day, I was gazing at some freshly sliced cucumbers, and some blanched green and wax beans, and I was debating a salad of sorts. I have a fridge full of bottled dressings, but nothing really seemed to be what I was in the mood for, when it occured to me to make it myself. So let’s make some Creamy Dressing together!
I began with a trip to the garden to gather some fresh herbs. Now, unlike the vinaigrette, which works with dried herbs for the most part, this time I’m going to have to insist that you you fresh herbs. Of course, you can purchase them, beg some off of a neighbor, or pick that which you have grown yourself. PIck any combination of herbs you like. For this dressing, I opted for thyme, rosemary, basil, fennel fronds, parsley, and one sage leaf. Any more sage than that is overwhelming in my mind. Go easy on the fresh rosemary as well.
I balled a good size handful of these herbs on my cutting board and chopped away. Chop, chop chop…
Gosh, that smells heavenly! Next I assembled the rest of my ingredients. I pulled out one lemon, one small clove of garlic, salt, pepper, and mayonnaise. I prefer a canola or olive oil mayonnaise, but use what you’d like. Really, this is where anything creamy would come on handy. You can use yogurt, sour cream, blended cottage cheese, soy mayo, etc. For this one, I wanted it to be dairy free, so mayo was my choice. I finely chopped the one clove of garlic and threw both the garlic and the herbs into a measuring cup. Next, I squeezed out the juice of one lemon into the cup. I added a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper, and then mixed it all together with a fork. Finally, I added a few scoops of mayo- equal to about half a cup.
And then I stirred it all rapidly with my fork. I tasted, thought it was nice, but it was missing…something. A quick rifle through the pantry and I added a squeeze of honey to the mixture- no more than a teaspoon. My dressing was ready.
All it needed were it’s dressable ingredients. In this case, I had blanched a blend of green beans and yellow beans, and I had sliced some crispy Poona Kheera cucumbers. I tossed both in the bowl and added the dressing.
The dressing was bright and vibrant from the medley of herbs and the lemon juice. It had a perfect creamy texture to it, and was really a fantastic way to dress my vegetables. I suspect that this dressing would keep in the fridge for about a week or so, and obviously, is completely changeable depending on the herbs you have on hand. And you notice, there was really no measuring, a literal chop, drop and stir affair. Do try to make some of your own salad dressing- it just doesn’t get any better than this to dress those fresh-from-the-garden vegetables.