The dressing of a salad is as important as the actual ingredients in the salad, whether it be a simple slaw, charred courgette salad, roasted root vegetables or the kiwi favourite the potato salad!
Dressings and mayonnaise’s pull all the flavours together and make the salad complete.
I want to run you through 3 simple dressings that we use at the school a lot, they are slightly different, pack allot of punch and are reasonably easy to make.
- Whole lemon mayonnaise.
Used as a general salad dressing, the bitter tart flavour of the whole fruit works really well with a green salad of leaves, right through to a tangy slaw
- Roasted hazelnut and rosemary
Super flavour booster! from freshly split avocado’s that have been charred on the BBQ right through to leftover roast vegetable salad
- Lime Tahini dressing
Certainly the easiest of all three as you simply mix the ingredients together and whamo! I use this dressing allot with BBQ vegetables, my favorite being courgettes and coriander, maybe with a touch of danish feta. (image attached)
Whole Lemon Mayonnaise
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 2 minutes
Serves: 6
- 3 lemons, juiced and smashed
- 350 ml grape seed oil
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard
- pinch of salt
Place the lemon and oil into a pot and gently heat over a low heat. (not above 60*C) for a couple minutes. Turn off and allow to cool before straining.
In a small bowl whisk the egg yolk with the vinegar, honey, Dijon and salt. Slowly add the oil until well combined.
Roasted hazelnut and rosemary dressing
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Serves: 6
- 1 x 10cm sprig rosemary
- pinch flaky sea salt
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts, whole
- 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 5 tbsp grapeseed oil
- salt and pepper
Place the hazelnuts into a pan and toast in the oven until just golden.
Then in a tea towel and bunch up the hazelnuts and rub together to remove the skins.
Crush up roughly in a pestle and mortar.
Set aside
Place the rosemary leaves and flaky sea salt into the pestle and mortar and crush into a paste. Remove from mortar and place into a bowl with all other ingredients. Combine.
Lime and Tahini dressing
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Serves: 6
- 4 tbsp tahini paste
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp honey
- 4 tbsp water
- pinch of salt
Starting with the tahini, spoon over the lime juice and then using the back of a spoon, mix through the honey and finally the water to thin the dressing out. Season with a pinch of salt.