I know. A salad post? Really?
Hear me out. This post is mainly going to be about an important component of salads: the dressing. Once you know how to make a good dressing, you can use it for everything: obviously it will dress raw or roasted vegetables, but it also makes a nice marinate for meats (this one is good on chicken and fish), and it can add a fresh bite to a pasta dish. Dressing jazzes up boring quinoa, farro, or couscous into a lovely side dish. It excites the humble potato. It awakens the sad lettuce leaf.
We are talking about vinaigrettes today, and all good vinaigrettes have a few very important components: an oil, an acid, an emulsifier, and flavor enhancers.
First, the oil. I tend to reach for olive oil, as I mentioned in my last post. You could also use sesame oil (especially in Asian dressings), a nut oil (walnut tends to fare well in raw salads), coconut oil... keep in mind that the oil will (probably) be raw in your dressing. For olive oil, this means you want to look for cold pressed olive oil, which refers to the fact that the oil was extracted through pressing at temperatures lower than 82 degrees. Since heat is one of the main enemies of good olive oil, this ensures that the flavor and aroma of the olive oil was not changed or destroyed in the extraction process. Extra virgin olive oils are cold-pressed, so they're a safe bet. The better olive oils come in dark bottles, because olive oil reacts with sunlight. Since olive oil comes from a plant, the greenish tint in some varieties is from chlorophyll. The chlorophyll reacts with the sunlight (photosynthesis!), so the greener it is, the more sensitive to light the oil will be. All in all, look for olive oil in dark or opaque bottles that has been cold-pressed.
Next, you need an acid. I tend to use lemon juice, but of course vinegar is always a good option. Rice wine vinegar is delicate in Asian dressings, and balsamic is great for Italian. You could also experiment with a sweeter citrus – lime, orange, or grapefruit – or blend up some tart berries – raspberries or blueberies – for a really sweet option.
The most basic formula for dressing is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. Personally, I don't like this ratio, and I prefer a bit more acid – usually closer to 1 to 1. I think Bon Appetit had the right idea in busting the "salad dressing ratio myth," instead suggesting that you rely on taste for the perfect ratio.
Now time for a little more science. As we all know, oil and vinegar do not mix on their own. This is because the components of vinegar – acid (generally acetic mixed with some othes depending on the type of vinegar) and water – are polar molecules that are hydrophillic, meaning they like water. Oils, on the other hand, are hydrophobic, meaning they repel water. This, by the way, is why you need soap – a molecule with both hydrophillic and hydrophobic parts – to clean grease off of pans; Water alone won't stick to the hydrophobic oil. To get these two types of molecules to stick together, we need something (like soap, but definitely not soap) to put in our dressing that has both hydrophillic and hydrophobic ends. This is where emulsifiers come in.
Emulsifiers essentially allow for oil-vinegar hand-holding in your dressing. This is what will allow a dressing to come together into smooth, silky goodness that doesn't separate. In this recipe I use honey, but there are a number of emulsifiers to play around with: egg yolks, mustard, tomato paste, and garlic to name a few. Mustard is a pretty common one and is a good idea if you are experimenting.
Lastly are the flavor enhancers. This is what balances out the other aspects of your dressing, so as you concoct the mixture, try to think about the major flavor profile of each ingredient. You have the richness from the oil and tartness from the acid – in this case, the honey adds the sweetness. We still need some depth of flavor – maybe some earthiness, saltiness, or something with a little more umami (soy sauce and tomato paste are good examples of the umami taste)? Salt and pepper is pretty much a given, but you can add other herbs – fresh or dried – and spices. In this case, we're using fresh rosemary, garlic, and pink Himalayan salt (okay, you can use regular salt – more on this later). I often put fresh basil and mint in my lemony dressings, and ginger and garlic go nice with soy sauce-based dressing.
Now to make the dressing: Put everything together in a big bowl, except the oil. Give it a little stir, and if you are using a thick ingredient like honey, make sure it is well combined! For the dressing to emulsify properly, you then drizzle in the oil very slowly as you whisk the vinaigrette together. That's it!
The salad today is a light, sweet, and lemony salad that's perfect for the summer! I found these beautiful blackberries and I really wanted their flavor to shine, so it is a pretty simple recipe. I used arugula, but you can really use any kind of green. I know a few types of greens (ahem, kale) have been labeled as a "superfood" and lauded for their amazing nutrition over the years (spinach also had it's turn in the spotlight a few years ago). While some greens are definitely healthier than others, I think it is important to diversify what types you are eating! The number one rule in choosing healthier greens is that darker leaves are better for you. Darker, open-leaf greens tend to be more densely packed with nutrients and antioxidants, because they absorb more sunlight with which the plant can then synthesize more vitamins. Each type of dark green has its own benefits, so choose whichever you like best, or compare nutrients to choose the healthiest. I personally like arugula, spinach, kale, and red-leaf lettuce. Arugula does tend to have a bit more of a bitter taste, so it works well with the blueberries and citrusy dressing here. Spinach tends to be delicate while kale is pretty robust (I like it cooked better than raw, but maybe that's just me), but either would be a fine substitute in this salad.
Summer Salad
Serves 2
8 cups arugula, rinsed thoroughly
1 cup blackberries
1/4 cup walnuts
1/2 spring onion, chopped, greens and white part separated
1/2 avocado
1 lemon
1 teaspoon honey
1 clove garlic
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon pink Himalyan salt (see note)
Dash pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
To make the dressing:
1. Zest the lemon into a bowl, and then add the juice of the whole lemon. Add honey, garlic, spring onion greens, rosemary, salt, and pepper, and mix until the honey is thinned by the lemon juice.
2. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until dressing is emulsified. Taste the dressing and season accordingly!
To assemble the salad:
1. Toast walnuts in a dry pan over medium-high heat. This should take about 5 minutes, but make sure to keep an eye on the pan and stir the walnuts around frequently so they don't burn.
2. Toss arugula, blackberries, walnuts, the white part of the spring onions, and the lemon dressing. Add the avocado, thinly sliced or cubed.
Note: I got the salt from a beautiful farmer's market in the little French town of Ferney, and I have been dying to use it. Of course, you can substitute regular table salt in this recipe, but keep in mind that salt with larger crystals tends to taste saltier, meaning you can use less (and the recipe will have less sodium).
