While people on Twitter and Facebook argue on whether or not baked beans and mayonnaise is indeed a salad, I spend my idle hours dreaming of what salads to mix up.
Think about it – they are healthy, quick, and when done right, can be incredibly filling and tasty. But whether it’s a Greek salad or baked beans and mayonnaise (yes, it is a salad), one thing that nobody can deny is that the dressing makes the salad.
You can have hundreds of dressings to choose from at a supermarket, but nothing will ever taste as good as the one that you make yourself, or most likely be quite as healthy, as store bought dressings have preservatives and other chemicals that you probably don’t want in your salad.
When you were younger, your parents probably had to bribe you to eat a salad, but now you can mix it up, add vegetables, meats and even fruit.
So in no particular order, here are a few of my favourite home-made salad dressings.
It is all in the name – honey and mustard and voila, you have a sweet and tangy dressing to accompany your salad.
• Canola or sunflower oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of honey
• 1 1/2 Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup white vinegar/lemon juice/apple cider vinegar
• Sprigs of fresh Coriander
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Adding all the ingredients into a bowl or an empty glass bottle if you have one, shake or whisk until they are all blended evenly. If you feel like it needs a little dash of pepper or more honey, add according to taste.
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Original balsamic vinegar is made in Modena, Italy from grape juice, which is then fermented for around 12 years. Want to know if yours is the real deal? It will probably have the word ‘tradizionale’ on the bottle, and is probably not cheap. When it comes to making a classic vinaigrette, the rule of thumb is that you should have one part vinegar to three parts oil.
• 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons of honey
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of red chilli flakes
Add all the ingredients into a bowl or empty glass bottle and shake or whisk until they are all blended evenly. Adjust according to taste.
