Basic Salad
Dressings 2
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| Tangy salad dressing (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Welcome back
everyone today is week two of “Basic but WOW Sunday” and I hope to finish today,
talking about basic salad dressings. First thing, I would like to thank my
friend and fellow blogger Graham
Pearson of Entropy Kitchen
for suggesting this topic. I hope between last week and this week I have done
it justice.
Last week I
talked about basic Vinaigrettes and Emulsified Vinaigrettes. Today I will take
you through some of the basics of Creamy Dressings. This is a very broad
subject so I will stick to the very basics here while still providing some of
my favorite recipes in accompanying post.
Creamy Salad
Dressings can be made from many bases, the most popular being Mayonnaise, Sour
Cream and Yogurt but can actually be made from anything that gives you a creamy
texture. One of my favorites is my own “Garlic
Ginger Dressing” which is based on Peanut butter. May sound odd but in
cooking there is no right or wrong only good tasting and not so good. If you think
it sounds good, try it. Don’t be afraid to experiment and dressings are a good
place to start playing with different seasonings. Be the chef experiment and
have fun.
The key to
any salad dressing is the flavors should never be too strong, the object is to
enhance the flavors of your main ingredients not hide them. A good dressing
brings out, blends and highlights the wonderful flavors of the main ingredients
without covering them up. To accomplish this seasoning should be subtle not
overpowering. They should complement not kill.
The best way
to learn is by doing so let’s start by making a Basic
Mayonnaise. Click the link in the text for the recipe. Then see what we can
accomplish from this basic start.
From this Basic
Mayo you can make a Blue cheese dressing a Garlic dressing or combine it
with Sour Cream or Yogurt to make any number of other dressings. I’ll be
posting recipes all week to help you along with this. For now just keep it
simple try taking ½ cup of you Basic
Mayo add 1 minced clove of garlic, 1 tsp of grated Parmesan Cheese and 2
Tbs of Sour Cream. Slowly mix in about 2 Tbs of Olive Oil; you have just made a
very nice Garlic Parmesan Salad Dressing.
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| Thousand Island Dressing on a plate of salad. Taken by Flickr user JND90745 at Pancho's restaurant, Manhattan Beach, California, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Yes it is
that simple. It is that easy and as I keep saying there are no limits except the
ones you put on your imagination. I hope I have done a sufficient job of
introducing you to the basics of Salad Dressings. I hope I have inspired you to
try going your own way following your own heart in the kitchen.
Sunday is the day that I hand my blog over to you.
You pick the topic. If you have any questions please comment below. If you have
any Ideas or suggestions for future subjects in the basics category, please let
me know. I’ll leave you today with this, No matter your endeavors always,
Enjoy!
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