Salad vinegar. Diet sauces for salads: when “tasty” does not mean “high in calories”
And on the eve of the holidays, and to diversify the daily diet for dressing salads they become a real lifesaver for those who, in addition to the benefits of a dish, do not forget about its taste. There are many dressings with which even the most simple salad can turn into a small culinary masterpiece.
Tasty, light, healthy, low-calorie and, most importantly, easy to prepare - meet our wonderful selection of recipes for diet sauces and dressings. And Bon Appetit!
Lemon salad dressings
Lemon adds a fresh, zesty flavor to any sauce. The main thing is to follow the recipe proportions.
1. Lemon-olive dressing:
– lemon juice – 3 tablespoons
- salt, black pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients thoroughly and season the salad just before serving.
2. Lemon-honey sauce
– lemon juice – 25 ml
– honey – 2 teaspoons
– olive oil – 1 teaspoon
- salt to taste
Thoroughly mix all the sauce ingredients and season the salad just before serving.
3. Lemon-honey vinegar dressing
– lemon juice – 25 ml
— honey – 2 teaspoons;
- wine vinegar - 1 teaspoon
- salt to taste
The dressing must be mixed immediately before serving the salad. It is perfect for salads and seafood appetizers. For example, with shrimp and scallops.
4. Lemon mustard dressing
- olive oil - 2 tablespoons;
– lemon juice – 4 tablespoons
– dry mustard powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Mix everything well. The finished dressing can be stored in the refrigerator in a glass container.
Dressings based on kefir and yogurt
A delicate sour taste and a huge number of variations for all occasions - natural yogurt and fresh kefir will make even the usual salad “sound” in a new way!
5. Kefir dressing with herbs
– kefir or natural yogurt – 100 ml
– chopped greens – 1 tablespoon
- salt to taste
Beat everything well. If desired, you can add garlic for a more piquant taste.
6. Lemon-yogurt dressing
– low-fat natural yogurt – 200 ml
– lemon juice – 2 tablespoons
Mix yogurt and lemon juice and leave to steep in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
7. Yogurt dressing with green onions
– chopped green onions – 2 tablespoons
– chopped dill – 2 tablespoons
Mix everything and let it brew in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
8. Yogurt dressing with mustard
– low-fat natural yogurt – 250 ml
– mustard – 1 teaspoon (Dijon mustard works great)
– apple cider vinegar – 1 teaspoon
– dry dill – ¼ teaspoon
– dry parsley – ¼ teaspoon
Beat the mustard and yogurt in a blender, add the remaining ingredients and leave the resulting dressing to infuse in the refrigerator.
9. Yogurt dressing with garlic
– low-fat natural yogurt – 250 ml
– garlic – 2-3 cloves
– olive oil – 1 tablespoon
Chop the peeled garlic (for example, in a garlic press) and mix with butter and yogurt. Let it brew in the refrigerator.
10. Yogurt dressing with basil
– natural low-fat yogurt – 250 ml
– chopped basil – 2 tablespoons
- ground white and black pepper - to taste
Mix the ingredients thoroughly and let it brew.
11. Kefir dressing with mint and basil
– low-fat kefir – 150 ml
– fresh basil – 5 sprigs
– fresh mint – 5 sprigs
– olive oil – 1 tablespoon
- salt and pepper to taste
Blend all the ingredients in a blender and let it brew in the refrigerator.
12. Dressing with kefir and olives
– low-fat kefir – 150 ml
– large olives – 10 pieces
– garlic – 1 clove
- salt and pepper to taste
In a blender, puree kefir, olives and garlic, add salt and pepper. Let the dressing sit.
13. “Mayonnaise” on yogurt
– thick natural yogurt – 100 ml
– mustard – 2 tablespoons
– lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
Mix everything well.
Dressings based on low-fat cheeses
Dressings based on low-fat cheeses are a low-calorie, but at the same time satisfying and tasty “note” for vegetable salads, for example, with cucumbers and tomatoes, lettuce leaves, bell peppers, and radishes. If you experiment with spices and aromatic herbs, there are even more options for such salad sauces. Any low-fat cheese is suitable for dressing - Adyghe, ricotta, tofu, feta and others.
14. Feta cheese dressing
– feta cheese – 50 g
– natural low-fat yogurt – 150 ml
– 1 fresh cucumber
Blend all the ingredients in a blender and let the dressing brew in the refrigerator.
15. Ricotta cheese dressing
– ricotta cheese – 50 g
– natural low-fat yogurt – 200 ml
- Dijon mustard - 1 teaspoon
Beat all ingredients in a blender and let it brew.
16. Tofu dressing
– tofu cheese – 100 g
– apple cider vinegar – 2 tablespoons
– grape seed oil – 1 tablespoon
- sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
- a pinch of ground dried garlic
Grind all the ingredients (or beat in a blender) until smooth, let it brew.
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Even just lettuce leaves or sliced fresh vegetables will become a real treat if you serve them with such unusual sauces.
17. Chickpea dressing
– boiled chickpeas – 100 g
– orange juice – 100 ml
- water
- garlic powder (or fresh garlic), salt, pepper - to taste
Grind all ingredients in a blender and add water to the required consistency.
18. Avocado dressing
– avocado – 1 pc.
– lemon juice – 1 teaspoon
– olive oil – 50 ml
– garlic – 1 clove
- a bunch of parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients in a blender and let it brew.
19. Tartar sauce
- boiled chicken yolks - 2 pcs.
– 1 raw chicken yolk (or 3 quail)
– olive oil – 50 ml
– lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
- mustard - 1 tablespoon
- sour cream or natural yogurt - 2 tablespoons
– capers – 2 tablespoons
– chopped pickled cucumbers – 2 tablespoons
– chopped fresh dill – 1 teaspoon
- black pepper and salt to taste
Grate the boiled yolks on a fine grater, add the raw yolk, lemon juice, mustard and beat until smooth. Without stopping whisking, pour in vegetable oil in a thin stream. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
20. Sour cream sauce with celery and apple
– sour cream – 100 g
- large green sour apple - half
- quarter of celery root
– mustard – 2 teaspoons
– lemon or lime juice – 1 teaspoon
- a bunch of dill
Grate the apple on a fine grater and drain the juice, sprinkle with lemon juice so that the applesauce does not darken. Grate the celery on a fine grater or chop in a blender. Add sour cream, mustard, herbs to the apple and celery and mix well.
Light sauces for traditional salads
Special sauces will help refresh the taste and reduce the calorie content of your favorite holiday “heavy” salads.
21. Spicy cheese-cucumber sauce
– fresh cucumbers – 2 pieces
– soft cream cheese – 100 g
- thick sour cream - 2 tablespoons
– garlic – 1-2 cloves
- a bunch of any greenery
Grate the cucumber and its peel on a fine grater. You can squeeze out the cucumber juice to make the sauce thicker. Mix cucumber with sour cream, soft cheese, chopped garlic, chopped herbs.
This light cucumber sauce is the best option for meat and potato salads. It will also fit harmoniously into salads and snacks made from vegetables and seafood. The secret of this dressing is in cucumbers, which contain a huge amount of tartronic acid. This organic acid inhibits the process of fat formation during the processing of carbohydrates and activates the breakdown of existing fat. But when heated, tartronic acid is destroyed, so cucumber sauce is only suitable for dressing cold salads.
22. Sour cream and ginger sauce
– low-fat sour cream – 200 g
- mustard (regular or Dijon) - 2 teaspoons
– 1 teaspoon ground ginger or 2 cm fresh ginger root
- 1 bunch of dill
Chop the dill very finely. If you use fresh ginger root, then grate it on a fine grater. Mix herbs and ginger with sour cream and mustard and leave to steep for 30 minutes.
This spicy and fresh sauce will be an excellent alternative to mayonnaise when dressing the beloved Herring under a Fur Coat salad. It is also suitable for other fish appetizers and salads, as well as salads with mushrooms, cheese and warm vegetable salads.
The benefit of ginger sauce is not only its lower calorie content compared to mayonnaise. Ginger is rich in gingerol, a substance that activates metabolic processes in the body. Ginger also promotes increased calorie consumption. A great help at the holiday table!
23. Kefir-cranberry sauce
– kefir – 100 ml
– frozen cranberries – to taste (about a handful)
– lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
– olive oil – 2 teaspoons
- ground red pepper to taste
Blend frozen cranberries in a blender with kefir until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Let it brew for 15-20 minutes. Do not add salt to the dressing!
Cranberry sauce can replace mayonnaise in salads with crab sticks, rice, brined cheese, fish, olives, hard cheese, fresh cucumbers, tomatoes and leafy greens.
Cranberry dressing is ideal for holiday feasts, as the fiber contained in cranberries reduces the calorie content of dishes and helps process fatty foods. And, thanks to the high content of pectin, cranberries reduce blood cholesterol levels, enhance metabolism and promote the elimination of toxins after drinking alcohol.
24. Nut sauce with cottage cheese and horseradish
– low-fat soft cottage cheese – 200 g
- walnuts - 1/4 cup
- grated horseradish (you can take ready-made creamy horseradish) - 0.5 teaspoon
– lemon juice – 1 teaspoon
- ground pepper - to taste
- kefir (to obtain the desired consistency) - as needed
Grind the nuts to a paste. Rub the cottage cheese through a sieve, combine with nuts, horseradish and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly and let sit for 15 minutes. The consistency of the sauce should resemble sour cream. If the dressing is too thick, you can dilute it with kefir.
With this nut dressing, the tastes of many familiar dishes will become richer and piquant. For example, “Mimosa” and other salads with salted and canned fish and seafood, beef and potato salads, vegetable salads and snacks. This sauce is not only incredibly tasty, but also healthy: walnuts quickly fill you up and at the same time lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels, they block the processing of carbohydrates into fat, and contain a lot of protein, fiber and Omega-3 fats.
In fact are not limited to any specific recipes: a little imagination - and every day you can discover new tastes. No burden on your wallet or harm to your figure!
I offer several proven and delicious salad dressings that can not only replace mayonnaise, but also make your dish much tastier and more original!
Depending on the sauce, you will get completely new tastes and combinations. Experiment! Our selection of recipes will help!
1. Sour cream sauce for salad
Ingredients:
100 g sour cream
2 tsp mustard
1 tsp lime or lemon juice
half a large sour green apple
1/4 celery root
bunch of dill
Preparation:
Grate the apple on a very fine grater, drain the juice, sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent the apple from darkening. Grate the celery on a very fine grater or grind in a blender. Combine all ingredients and mix.
2. Cucumber salad dressing
Cucumber sauce will become indispensable in heavy salads with boiled meat.
Ideal for the Stolichny salad, any salads with boiled meat, potatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, cheese and seafood.
The whole secret of the sauce is that fresh cucumbers contain a huge amount of tartronic acid, which inhibits the process of processing carbohydrates and helps break down existing fat. But you can only use cucumber sauce with cold salads, since tartronic acid loses its magical properties when heated.
Ingredients:
2 fresh cucumbers
100 g soft cream cheese
2 tbsp. thick sour cream
1–2 cloves of garlic
a bunch of any greenery
Preparation:
Grate the cucumber on a fine grater along with the peel. Add chopped garlic, chopped herbs, sour cream and soft cheese.
Mix thoroughly until smooth.
The cucumber juice in this sauce can be squeezed out as desired, depending on whether you need a thicker or thinner sauce.
3.Ginger salad dressing
Use ginger sauce in “Herring under a fur coat.”
A great idea for those who adore the legendary “Herring under a fur coat.”
Also suitable for salads and appetizers with any salted fish, mushrooms, warm vegetable salads and salads with feta cheese.
Ginger contains a special substance - gingerol, which quickly improves blood circulation and, like a powerful turbo reactor, accelerates metabolism. In addition, gingerol enhances heat production and, thereby, burns calories - eat and lose weight to your heart's content!
Ingredients:
200 g low-fat sour cream
2 tsp Dijon mustard (no Dijon, use regular)
1 tsp ground ginger (or 2 cm fresh ginger root)
1 bunch of dill
Preparation:
Chop the dill very finely. If you use fresh ginger root, grate it on a fine grater. Mix all products and leave to brew for 30 minutes.
4. Cranberry sauce for salad
Cranberry sauce is a great alternative to mayonnaise in traditional crab salad.
This sauce is suitable for salads that contain crab sticks, rice, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, hard cheese, brine cheese, fish, olives, black olives and leafy greens.
Due to their high acid content, cranberries help to better digest fatty foods. Cranberries contain plenty of fiber, which reduces the calorie content of your salads, and pectins, which lower blood cholesterol, improve metabolism and speed up the elimination of toxins after drinking alcohol. There is no need to add salt to the dressing!
Ingredients:
100 ml kefir
handful of frozen cranberries
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp olive oil
ground red pepper - to taste
Preparation:
Without defrosting, beat the cranberries in a blender with kefir into a homogeneous mass. Add pepper, lemon juice, olive oil and stir. The sauce should sit for 15–20 minutes.
5. Peanut sauce for salad
Mimosa salad will take on a new taste thanks to the nut sauce.
Nut sauce will add a rich taste to Mimosa salad, as well as potato, beef, salted and canned fish, leafy greens and seafood salads.
Walnuts, due to their high fiber, protein and Omega-3 content, lower blood sugar levels, quickly fill you up, block the conversion of carbohydrates into fat, lower cholesterol and reduce cravings for sweets and chocolate.
Ingredients:
200 g low-fat soft cottage cheese
1/4 tbsp. walnuts
0.5 tsp grated horseradish (you can use ready-made creamy horseradish)
1 tsp lemon juice
ground pepper - to taste
kefir - as needed
Preparation:
Rub the cottage cheese through a sieve, add chopped walnuts, horseradish and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly and leave to brew for 15 minutes. The consistency of the sauce should be like sour cream. If necessary, dilute a little with kefir.
Bon appetit!
6. Simple dressing for vegetable salads.
This dressing is suitable for any vegetable salad.
Ingredients:
10 tbsp. tablespoons vegetable oil (olive, sesame, corn)
3 tbsp. spoons of vinegar (wine/apple)
0.5 tsp Sahara
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
7. Low-calorie salad dressing
An excellent option for those who want to do without mayonnaise.
Ingredients:
4 tbsp. lemon juice or wine vinegar
2 tbsp. French (Dijon) mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
2/3 cup olive oil
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients and mix well. The gas station is ready.
8. Sour cream sauce
Ingredients:
7 tbsp sour cream
1-2 cloves of garlic
0.5 tsp curry
chopped cilantro
salt, pepper to taste
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients and mix well.
9. Sour cream and mustard sauce
Ingredients:
3 tbsp. l. sour cream
1 tsp. mustard
1 bunch of basil greens
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients and mix well. The gas station is ready.
10. Mustard dressing
Ingredients:
5 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
juice of 1/2 lemon
dried basil and cilantro to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Mix everything and let it brew in the refrigerator.
Bon appetit!
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The taste harmony of the salad is largely determined by its dressing. It is the sauce that brings together the disparate components and gives the finished salad its flavor. Most often, housewives use store-bought mayonnaise to dress vegetable and snack salads. But store-bought sauces and dressings are a real bouquet of artificial emulsifiers, flavors, preservatives and other substances harmful to health. You can season the vegetable salad with sour cream, olive or sunflower oil. But you don’t have to limit yourself to this - there are many variations of salad dressings based on vegetable oils, sour cream, yogurt and other common products. To enrich the taste and add special piquancy, vinegar, lemon juice, soy sauce, honey, mustard, garlic, aromatic herbs, and various spices are added to the dressing.
In this article we will share recipes for salad dressings made from natural ingredients found in our refrigerators and kitchen cupboards. Homemade salad dressing works on the principle of a designer - by changing the ratio of individual components, you can give the finished dish a different flavor.
Salad Dressing Recipes
How to make salad dressing? Use our recipes - the most delicious sauces for salad dressing.
The classic recipe for dressing vegetable salads is French vinaigrette sauce . This has nothing to do with the famous vinaigrette salad. The name of this sauce comes from from the French "Vinaigrette" , is an emulsion of vegetable oil and vinegar in a ratio of 1:3, whipped with the addition of various ingredients. This salad dressing has mustard.
For classic salad dressing we will need:
- 1.5 cups olive oil;
- half a glass of lemon juice or wine vinegar;
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard;
- coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Pour all ingredients into a jar with a tight lid and shake. You can also use a mixer or blender to prepare the sauce - stir everything until you obtain a homogeneous emulsion with a spicy smell and sour taste. The mixture can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.
Vinaigrette sauce (Vinaigrette) Suitable not only for dressing vegetable salads, but also as an addition to fish, chicken, and shrimp dishes. To add different flavors to the base, you can add a teaspoon of soy sauce, a couple of cloves of garlic, a spoonful of liquid honey, chopped fresh or dried herbs. Wine vinegar can be replaced with dry wine, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. If the sauce is stored in the refrigerator, shake or stir with a spoon before using.
It will be a piquant dressing for salads with chicken or shrimp. egg vinaigrette. In this recipe, mashed boiled yolk and vegetable oil are added to a mixture of vinegar and spices and everything is whisked until smooth. At the end of cooking, finely grated egg white is added to the sauce.
Spicy dressing based on vegetable oil – An excellent option for light vegetable salads.
To prepare the sauce, pour 100 ml of sunflower or olive oil, 50 grams of lemon juice into a container, add 2 cloves of chopped garlic, chopped small bunch of fresh herbs, half a teaspoon each of salt and cumin, a little black and red pepper. Grind everything with a blender or whisk until smooth, let it brew for a few minutes and season the salad.
Honey mustard dressing can be used both for salads and as a sauce for dishes of boiled or baked vegetables. To prepare it, mix 125 ml of natural thick yogurt, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, 1-2 teaspoons of honey, 50 ml of lemon juice, you can add a little lemon zest, 1 finely chopped clove of garlic (optional), 2 teaspoons of salt and half a spoon freshly ground black pepper. The finished sauce can be stored for up to 7 days in a cool, dark place in an airtight container.
Sour cream with horseradish – spicy dressing for salads and vegetable dishes. This salad dressing is made with eggs, or rather egg yolks. For this sauce, mix a glass of sour cream with a mixer or a whisk with two boiled yolks, the juice of half a lemon, and 3 teaspoons of sugar. Salt and pepper the mixture to taste, add finely chopped spicy herbs and 4 tablespoons of horseradish, grated on a fine grater.
Low calorie salad dressing based on natural yogurt
For this salad dressing recipe, take one and a half cups of natural yogurt without additives, add 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice, 4 teaspoons of vegetable oil, a teaspoon of mild mustard, salt and pepper. Beat everything by hand or with a mixer until smooth.
Experienced chefs recommend that you always taste the salad dressing before using it and, if necessary, add spices or adjust the taste. Don't forget to stir the sauce before dressing the salad. The dish is poured with dressing just before serving, otherwise the vegetables will release juice and the salad will be too watery. Place the remaining sauce in a jar, close with a tight lid and store in the refrigerator until next use.
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A delicious salad dressing is not difficult to prepare. Just mix a few ingredients together, add spices, and the sauce is ready. Sometimes you have to tinker a little more, sometimes less. But as a result, you will get excellent training, which is also sometimes called training.
So, the simplest sauce is a mixture of vegetable oil and vinegar, plus a pinch of salt. It is important, however, to pay attention to the quality of the products used. The better the ingredients, the better the final product itself.
Mix vegetable oil and vinegar thoroughly. Only then can you add herbs and spices. A pinch of pepper and salt may be enough, or add more ingredients such as honey, fresh herbs or chopped shallots. The prepared vinegar seasoning should be infused in the refrigerator for 3 or 4 days in a container with a lid. Before serving, stir well again with a broom. And now a few more recipes.
Salad sauce recipes
Buttermilk Herb Sauce
Mayonnaise, buttermilk, fresh herbs, salt and pepper - that's essentially all you need to quickly prepare a classic dressing. The sauce can be stored in the refrigerator in a container with a lid for about a week. It can be used for refilling.
Ingredients:
- ½ cup mayonnaise;
- ½ cup buttermilk;
1 tbsp. finely chopped chives;
1 tbsp. finely chopped dill;
1 tbsp. fresh oregano leaves;
1 tsp salt;
- ¼ tsp. garlic powder.
Preparation
Mix all the necessary ingredients in a bowl with a whisk. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (to allow the flavors to develop). Stir everything well again before serving.
Vinegar dressing with basil
All you need to make this sauce is fresh herbs, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper.
Ingredients:
1.5 cups fresh basil leaves;
3 tbsp. olive oil;
3 cloves of garlic;
- ¼ cup lemon juice;
- ¼ tsp. salt;
- ¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper;
- ¾ cup olive oil.
Preparation
Blend together the first six ingredients listed in a blender. Turn off the blender and scrape the large leaves off the sides. Turn on maximum speed. Turn off. Add the rest of the olive oil and mix on low speed until smooth.
Raspberry sauce
This sauce requires only three ingredients: raspberries, rice vinegar and olive oil. The sauce is great for dressing a salad with ham, feta cheese, toasted nuts and lettuce.
Ingredients:
30 g seedless raspberry puree (pass through a sieve);
- ½ cup rice vinegar;
- ¼ cup olive oil.
Preparation
Mix the raspberry puree, vinegar and olive oil well. Pour this sauce over the salad.
Caesar sauce
Traditional Caesar salad dressing is made from raw eggs. But the recipe can be slightly altered by replacing eggs with mayonnaise. Add anchovies, capers, Dijon mustard and lemon juice and you have a Caesar dressing.
Ingredients:
- ½ cup mayonnaise;
2 cans of anchovies in oil (drain oil);
1 clove of garlic, minced;
1 tbsp. capers (without sauce);
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice;
1 tbsp. water;
1 tsp Dijon mustard;
2 tbsp. parmesan cheese;
Salt and ground pepper.
Preparation
Mix mayonnaise, fish, garlic, capers, lemon juice, water and mustard together in a food processor until smooth. Add the cheese and mix again in the food processor. Salt and pepper.
Cream sauce with cucumber and avocado
Who said salad dressing can't be healthy and packed with vitamins? This sauce contains a whole bunch of useful elements. It can be seasoned with fresh herbs or used for dipping vegetables.
Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, minced;
- ½ cucumber;
1 avocado without skin and seeds;
1 cup of young spinach leaves;
- ½ cup fresh mint leaves;
2 stalks of green onions (including the white head);
Juice of 1 lemon;
2 tbsp. olive oil;
- ½ tsp. fresh ground black or white pepper;
1 tsp sea salt.
Preparation
Puree all ingredients in a food processor, adding ¾ cup water. Serve.
Sauce with shallots and grapefruit juice
Try combining citrusy freshness with a light cilantro flavor.
Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil;
- ½ cup finely chopped shallots;
2 glasses of fresh grapefruit juice (from 3 grapefruits);
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro;
2 tsp Sahara;
- ¼ tsp. fresh ground black pepper;
2 tbsp. olive oil.
Preparation
Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add shallots, cook 5 minutes or until golden brown. Add juice. Bring to a boil. Raising the heat slightly, cook until 1 cup of sauce remains (about 6 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool.
Place grapefruit juice mixture, cilantro, sugar and pepper in a blender. Mix until smooth. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil. Blend again in a blender until smooth.
Vinegar dressing for baked lemon salad
The dressing has a unique taste, color and aroma thanks to the juice of baked lemons. Add just a little olive oil, honey and salt.
Ingredients:
2 lemons;
1 tsp olive oil;
1 tbsp. honey;
- ½ tsp. salt;
3 tbsp. olive oil.
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cut the lemons into quarters and remove the seeds. Place them in a ceramic or glass baking tray or pan. Drizzle with a teaspoon of olive oil. Place cut side down on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until the lemons are soft and slightly golden. This will take about 25-45 minutes (depending on the size of the lemons). Let cool.
Squeeze the juice and pulp from the lemons into a small bowl. Add the juice from the pan, as well as honey and salt. Stirring constantly with a whisk, slowly add olive oil. Again, energetic hand work. Pour the prepared sauce over salad, vegetables or shrimp to give them a special aroma and extraordinary taste.
The word “refueling” is perhaps unusual for the Russian ear and in some ways even funny. Meanwhile, this word is used to describe something without which no salad is possible in principle. Salad dressing (I don’t like the word “sauce” in this context at all) can both combine several disparate ingredients into a single whole and ruin a good idea, so the importance of such a task as preparing salad dressing should not be neglected. Alas, or rather, fortunately, there is no universal recipe here: if you open and click on the “Salads” link, you will see for yourself that I offer my own dressing for each of them. Difficult? Nothing like this! Salad dressings are akin to a construction set - and after reading these instructions, you will be able to correctly “assemble” a dressing (or, if you prefer, a sauce) for any salad that your imagination suggests.
Introduction to saladology
However, first, as usual, a little introductory.
At first, when preparing the dressing, it is best to start from the classic, long-proven proportions. For me, such a classic is the following ratio:
3 tbsp. oil + 1 tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice + +
As a result, you will get a simple vinaigrette dressing that will suit absolutely any salad (not just vinaigrette). If you wish, you can add a little (no more than 1 tbsp) honey or mustard to it, and you will prepare an original dressing specifically for the salad you have prepared. For example, honey is good in dressings where there is ham, aged cheese or other flavored ingredient, mustard is good in salads with neutral-tasting greens (for example, iceberg or lettuce), soy sauce is good in salads with cucumbers, sesame oil and any Asian ingredients , and Worcestershire sauce - in salads with roast beef.
Make it a rule to try any dressing. In a salad, its taste will be balanced by other ingredients, so to understand what you got, it is better to dip a lettuce leaf in the dressing and taste it.
Before dressing the salad, mix all the ingredients again until emulsified - this is especially true if the ready-made dressing has had time to sit for a while. I usually make the salad dressing in a bowl and beat it with a fork until smooth, or you can make the dressing in a small jar - shake a few times and it's ready.
Do not dress the salad if you are not ready to serve it immediately - otherwise it will become very soggy, which is a spectacle. If you need to prepare the salad in advance, place all its ingredients in a bowl, prepare the dressing separately, and mix just before serving.
Most salad dressings will keep in the refrigerator for at least a few days. Hence the conclusion, even two: firstly, you can prepare the dressing “for future use”, and secondly, do not throw away the excess, you will need it later.
Well, now let's move on to talking about the main ingredients of salad dressings.
Main Ingredients
Oil
The basis of most dressings is vegetable (melted butter or rendered fat are used much less frequently, but still not so rare that they are not mentioned). Most often - olive: its soft, bitter taste goes equally well with vegetables, leaves, and everything else that you are used to putting in salads. Sunflower, mustard, pumpkin, sesame and other types of oil are appropriate, but they leave a more “aggressive” imprint on the taste of the dish - decide for yourself whether you need it or not. If, on the contrary, you need a delicate oil with almost no taste, grape seed oil will do. For salads, they usually use extra virgin oil, unrefined - in a word, one that is not suitable for frying, and vice versa.
Vinegar
Vinegar in salad dressings is responsible for the acidity and also for the formation of an emulsion, so that the dressing literally envelops every leaf of your salad. The most commonly used ones are white or red; in addition to them, balsamic (although it will paint your salad a not always unattractive dark color), sherry, cider (very similar to regular apple) and others are also suitable, and the use of flavored vinegars allows you to bring the number of possible combinations closer to infinity . Of course, synthetic vinegar is completely unsuitable here.
Juice
The juice of fruits, berries and even vegetables is also appropriate in salad dressings: for example, lemon (or lime) juice can replace vinegar (and I must admit, I like this option better), the juices of other citrus fruits or berries add their own piquant note. Use the rest as an unusual and exotic seasoning. The main thing is not to overdo it: you should hardly add more than 1 teaspoon of juice per serving of dressing, so the juice should initially have an intense and distinct taste. If your wild imagination tells you to add cucumber or celery juice to the dressing, ask her to listen to reason.
Additional Ingredients
Mustard
Mustard is one of the traditional ingredients of salad dressing. Most often, Dijon mustard is used (that is, not our eye-catching mustard, but the less spicy European one), but in some cases, grainy or even flavored mustard is appropriate. Makes the dressing a little thicker, adds spiciness and aroma. If you want to start with a classic combination, use 1 teaspoon mustard to 3 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. After this, you can move on to experiments.
Honey
It is especially good in those salads where the fifth taste () is found - in other words, if your salad contains dried meat, roast beef or mature cheese, it will benefit from honey. Use honey in small quantities, balancing any excess sweetness with lemon juice, and stirring the dressing until smooth.
Sauces
For example, soybean (by the way, goes well with honey), a few drops of which will give the taste of your salad a distinct Asian aroma. By experimenting with other ready-made sauces (Worcestershire being the most obvious, but not the only one), you may find your “secret ingredient” that will enhance the flavor of any dressing.
Yogurt
Yogurt (plain, of course, without additives) is an excellent base for salad dressing. It goes well with vegetables and herbs, and complements the taste of fish, seafood and meat. The slight sourness of yogurt allows you to create a taste different from that given by a dressing based on olive oil - however, if desired, yogurt and oil can be mixed, and this, you see, opens up considerable scope for creativity.
Sour cream
Sour cream, in my opinion, is a little less suitable for salad dressings than yogurt.
And it is used the same way. An exception is a summer salad made from fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden, where sour cream itself is a great dressing.
Finishing touches
Vegetables and fruits!)
Vegetables can be a component of both the salad itself (which is understandable) and the salad dressing. For example, quite often garlic is added to the dressing - crushed or finely chopped. In addition to (or instead of) it, you can use onion - Yalta or regular red onion, chopped and added to the dressing at the stage of mixing all its components. Other variations on the theme are spicy, seeds and nuts, pear, pomegranate seeds and so on. What stands out are dressings based on vegetables - say, baked eggplant or peppers pureed in a blender.
Greenery
Chopped fresh herbs will fit harmoniously into any dressing, you can be sure of that. Dill for salads with summer vegetables or fish, for tomatoes, cilantro for Asian-style salads, parsley, chervil and chives for everything. If you don't have fresh herbs, use dried ones, such as oregano.
Egg
Typically, the egg (or its yolk) is used as a starting point for creating mayonnaise and other sauces that are prepared using similar technology (for example, Hollandaise). But in some cases (see classic Caesar salad), the egg itself can play the role of salad dressing. Such are the things.
Spices
Spices are a necessary finishing touch to any dressing. At a minimum, your dressing should be seasoned with salt and black pepper; Among other spices, give preference to those that will not turn your salad into the dominance of a single taste.
Other
If you want to add something to the dressing that is not included in the list above, feel free to add it. For example, finely grated hard cheese like Parmesan, finely chopped bacon or more exotic ingredients may be just the building block that is missing in your constructor. And don't be afraid to experiment: one day, completely unexpectedly, I discovered that the ideal dressing for shrimp salad requires adding a spoonful of heavy cream.
Let your imagination run wild.
Add.
Stir.
Give it a try.
Refuel.
And serve it to the table.
