Salad Dressing Archives – Karyn's Kitchen

Look To the Pantry For Easy Spicy Salad Dressing

Salad is never boring when it’s tossed with a great dressing. Try a spicy salad dressing with your favorite veggies.

In the mood for a spicy salad dressing? It’s easy to make one at home if you keep a few basic ingredients on hand. An oil, an acid and maybe a savory or sweet component are all you need to make a delicious dressing. Look at your available ingredients and decide in which direction to take your flavor profile.

Inspired by the last of the season’s sweet, colorful peppers, I decided to toss them together with some mixed greens, chopped red onion and browned ground turkey because that’s what was in my refrigerator. Another protein such as fish or some nuts would have worked just as well. How about some edamame? Hey, that sounds good, especially because this spicy salad dressing had an Asian influence. Get out your food processor, blender or mortar and pestle. Whichever is your favorite tool to smash some garlic and whisk some liquids together works for me.

Ingredients for Asian Influenced Spicy Salad Dressing:

one clove garlic, minced
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
juice of one lime
1 teaspoon sriracha sauce
1 teaspoon mirin
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 drops sesame oil

What do we have here? An umami ingredient meets tangy, sweet and spicy. That’s the principle. Measurements are only a baseline to get you started because I want you to taste and adjust proportions according to what your palate prefers. I am not kidding about restraining yourself with the sesame oil though. It has a strong flavor and can quickly become overpowering. So start with a drop or two. You can always add more if you want to. That is why I keep this oil in the refrigerator. It takes me a while to go through it and I don’t want it going rancid. I blast through olive oil and grapeseed oil, so it can stay in the cupboard or on the countertop.

More on Substitutions

Basically, the above items are things I will always have on hand. If I didn’t have a fresh lime, I might have used a lemon or a vinegar of some kind instead. If I didn’t have mirin, I might have used some honey instead. Do these substitutions taste exactly the same? No, but that doesn’t really matter, as far as I’m concerned. What matters is that you learn to develop your intuition in the kitchen and cook with greater confidence using ingredients available to you. Learn to trust your palate as you experiment combining sweet, savory and spicy ingredients. Salad dressing can be made with an endless variety of items so long as it’s a pleasing consistency and complements the salad itself.

Instead of tender leafy greens, you could try a similar dressing with chopped or shredded cabbage. Keeping a head of cabbage in your refrigerator means you can shop less often and still eat fresh vegetables anytime. It’s delicious and nutritious cooked or raw and will keep much longer than other more perishable vegetables. Try this Amazing Zingy Unstuffed Cabbage Anytime.

Miso Probiotic Salad Dressing to Make You Sing

Incorporate more probiotic foods for a healthy gut.

Healthy homemade salad dressing is simple. Maybe you’ve been making your own for a while, but have gotten into a rut making the same one all the time. Why not shake things up a bit using miso paste? The umami flavor with probiotic properties will make you sing.

For a quick lunch portion for two, I usually crush a clove of garlic with a pinch of salt in my mortar with my pestle and then whisk the other ingredients in with a fork. For a larger amount, I might press the food processor into service. Either method works.

Basic Ingredients:

garlic
pinch of salt
shiro (white) miso paste
lemon juice or rice vinegar
olive oil

What are the proper proportions of ingredients? As I always say, experiment and taste along the way to see what you find appealing. I begin with a pinch of salt because it helps break down the garlic clove when crushing with a pestle. (But don’t overdo it because miso is already salty.) I might start with a tablespoon or so of miso and the juice of a small lemon and then drizzle a couple tablespoons of olive oil in while whisking. Taste and see what adjustments you would like to make.

What other variations might you come up with? Crushed ginger root is a nice addition, as is a bit of sriracha or soy sauce. Maybe a drop of sesame oil?

What should you put in the salad? What’s in your refrigerator? I think this is delicious with cabbage alone, but any number of ingredients pair well with this dressing. Toss it with some chicken or nuts for protein and maybe some leftover whole grains to bulk it up.

For more salad inspiration, read Salad Rules Are Made to Be Broken.

Simple Ceviche and Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing

Take a shortcut to making ceviche and enjoy healthy homemade salad dressings.

Too hot to slave away in the kitchen? Who says you have to? Make a healthy homemade salad dressing and serve ceviche instead. Okay, I confess this is not the real ceviche made by marinating raw fish in lime juice for an extended length of time. You can make a quick version with cooked fish and/or shellfish.

Start by putting pre-cooked shrimp and surimi in a big bowl. Squeeze lots of fresh lime juice over it and refrigerate while chopping the following ingredients:

green or red onion
jalapeno or serrano pepper
tomatoes
celery
cilantro
salt

Toss everything together and serve. It tastes best if you let the ceviche marinate while chilling for a few hours, but it’s not absolutely necessary as the seafood is already cooked. I won’t tell if you’re impatient and can’t wait to dig in!

I didn’t think of it this time, but I enjoyed ceviche that I had in Kauai once containing ground coriander. The next time they put fresh oregano in there. What other herbs or spices might you use? Let your imagination run wild and start cooking without a recipe. Chopped avocado would be great in this as well.

What have your travels inspired you to create? Find out how my family learned to make a legendary Caesar Salad from their travels.

Cabbage Salad With Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing

Smash a clove of garlic with a pinch of salt using your mortar and pestle. Whisk into it: equal parts white balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Toss with chopped cabbage and cilantro or mint. Add some cucumbers for additional texture and hydration. Delicious and refreshing!

red cabbage with cucumbers and mint on a white plate

How about adding an Asian flair to your salad dressing? Here’s an amazing one with healthy probiotics.

How to Make Legendary Caesar Salad

This Caesar salad dressing recipe makes a great first course or entrée.

Everyone loves Caesar salad. The dressing is one of the first things my mother-in-law, Dottie, taught me to make because hers is legendary. She remembers fondly her travels to Mexico in the 1950’s to attend the bull fights, “We never went to Tijuana without going to the Caesar Hotel, famous for the Caesar salad. The recipe was given to me by the maitre d’ after many, many visits.”

A vintage black and white photo of Dottie, Luis Procuna and another woman — Dottie is the cute one on the left sitting next to Luis Procuna, the famous matador, after a Sunday bullfight

Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe

There are different methods for combining the ingredients, of course. You’ve seen tableside service with the big wooden bowl? I learned to make it using a food processor with these ingredients:

one clove of garlic
1 can of drained anchovies
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
the juice of one lemon
one coddled egg
parmesan cheese
olive oil
romaine lettuce

Dottie puts a few capers in there too. There should be ground pepper in here, but I prefer grains of paradise instead.

The Egg

To coddle the egg, (only the very freshest egg), bring a saucepan full of water to a boil. Take it off the heat and gently lower the egg into the hot water with a slotted spoon. Let it hang out in there for about a minute, just until all the air bubbles have come out. Then take out the egg and put it in cold water.

If you’re nervous about using a nearly raw egg, I understand. Make sure that the egg is fresh. If you’re under 8 or over 80, as they say, perhaps it’s not advisable for you. Use additional olive oil instead or add a little mayonnaise. I have sometimes left out certain ingredients for people with dietary restrictions, so feel free to experiment on your own. One thing is for sure, though. If you leave out the anchovies, just don’t call it a Caesar. A Caesar isn’t a Caesar without them, as far as I’m concerned.

Toppings for Caesar Salad

Years ago, I used to order a fabulous Caesar salad at Vigilucci’s in San Diego. They topped it with breaded, fried calamari. Who needs croutons with those tasty, crunchy morsels?

I started making it that way at home for something extra special, but for such a small amount that I was making here, I didn’t feel like using up another egg to make the breadcrumbs stick, so I just threw some mixed seafood into a skillet for a couple minutes. You will know they’re done when the shrimp turn pink and the calamari and scallops change texture slightly.

Caesar salad topped with shrimp and calamari on a white plate — Make it an entree with the addition of some protein. How do you like to top your Caesar?

Something Crunchy

Dottie makes a genius side for her Caesar: single layered wedges of pita bread, topped with butter and parmesan. She bakes them in the oven until crunchy. They’re fantastic and they go fast! Trust me, you can’t eat just one…which is why I don’t make them for parties anymore. They are so popular that I ended up spending all night in the kitchen preparing batch after batch upon request. Maybe I just need to post a sign that reads, “Limit: 3 per customer.”

For more on making your own salad dressings, please read Undressing the Dressing next.