Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Lemon Vinaigrette


There are only a couple bottled salad dressings I really like.  Newman's Own Original is a family favorite and I recently tried Annie's Natural Goddess dressing (a green goddess recipe) and absolutely loved it.

But for years I've tried to perfect a homemade vinaigrette which both my husband and I liked.  Then I saw this recipe used by a TV chef and decided to try it that evening.  It was wonderful, just enough lemon for me but not overpowering as when I've tried to use just lemon for him.

It's also very simple:

Juice of two lemons
Vinegar equal to the amount of lemon juice (I use rice vinegar)
Two to three times oil to the amount of the combination of lemon and vinegar (to taste)*
Salt and pepper**

I mix mine up in a canning jar or jelly jar and just give it a shake before using it.  Yum... I have been using it on a lettuce salad but this would also work great with an Israeli type salad of just tomatoes and cucumbers with perhaps some parsley.

Recipe will be parked on Coffee Tea Books & Recipes.  :)

*  I like to use half extra virgin oil and half a mild veggie oil like canola.  I use about 2 1/2 times oil to the lemon-vinegar mixture.  Two times the mixture made it more acidic than Hubby likes.

** Always add your extra ingredients like salt to the vinegar before adding the oil.  It "melts" into the vinegar easier.  I think that technique was vintage Julia Child.

3 comments:

Vee said...

Sounds good to me! I love Olive Garden house dressing and I really like Newman's Own, too. That's a good method to shake it in a cute little efficient canning jar.

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

This sounds wonderful, Brenda. I prefer making my own vinaigrette. Reading the ingredients on the bottles from the store fills me with doubt and dismay!

Anonymous said...

I just started making a dressing similar to yours, but it has fresh oregano & minced garlic added in. I put it on Greek salad - so yummy.
-Connie