Free from: gluten, eggs, soy, yeast, dairy
I eat salad almost every day and I must admit I often just toss it with olive oil and lemon, salt and pepper. How lazy is that? Truth is it takes no time to make fresh salad dressing there’s no excuse not to.
This is a basic dressing that you can adapt by switching out herbs or adding a touch of Dijon mustard. If you add mustard you may need to adjust the amount of both the salt and the lemon juice. Try this with chopped fresh cilantro, fresh or dried oregano, or dill. Or if you are feeling a bit adventurous or Greek, add a teaspoon of ground cumin in place of the basil. Yum. And it goes without saying, garlic is a personal taste; use it or not. Use more or less. This is also an easy marinade for fish or chicken. If using as a marinade I would chop the garlic.
Ingredients:
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
½-¾ teaspoon kosher salt or fleur de sel (wildly expensive but worth it)
freshly cracked pepper to taste
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, smashed*, peeled and left whole
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped fine
*Place the garlic clove on a cutting board and place the flat side of a chef’s knife on top. Give the knife a good whack with the flat palm of your hand. Remove peel and use garlic as is or for other recipes simply chop. Some of my friends add finely chopped garlic directly to the salad dressing. For me that’s ok if the garlic is really finely chopped. However my version of finely chopped garlic and The Italian’s, are quite different. Can you say chunk-o-garlic?
Preparation:
1. Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl
2. Add garlic and basil and stir
3. Toss with salad leaving garlic behind
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