Sensational Salad Dressing Recipes to Make this Spring

Our farmers markets are displaying a kaleidoscope of produce right now so I am inspired to make salads! I have some sensational salad dressing recipes ready.

Lori Powell, food stylist and recipe developer for top U.S. food and lifestyle publications, created two of my favorite salad dressing recipes while blogging for my now-defunct website, Special Fork. You’ll find her recipes below.

Make a Thai-inspired main dish salad.

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My “go to” is simply tossing salad with extra virgin olive oil and wine vinegar (3 oil to 1 vinegar), measured in the spoon of my salad servers. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

Vary the flavor by changing the vinegar. There are so many delicious choices like sherry, champagne, or more exotic ones like quince.

Lori’s Light Ranch Dressing

Salad dressing recipes can be as simple as a few ingredients whisked together.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup olive oil mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or to taste
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped sweet onion
• ½ teaspoon minced garlic
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Keeps about 2 weeks.

Makes about 1 cup. Recipe by Lori Powell.

Lori’s Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette

This salad dressing is a kid pleaser that will get the grandkids to eat more fresh produce.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons cherry, fig, or regular balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot (optional but makes it super good)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

Whisk together vinegar and mustard in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisking slowly, add oil in a stream until emulsified (thickened) and vinaigrette is creamy. If you add the oil too fast, the vinaigrette will break. If this happens begin again with some vinegar and mustard and slowly whisk in “broken” mixture. Whisk in shallot, if using, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes about 1/2 cup. Recipe by Lori Powell.

Try the recipe for my all-time favorite salad, Salade Niçoise.

Salad making offers a wonderful opportunity to get the grandkids involved in the kitchen. They can prep the salad components and measure and mix the dressing ingredients. Participating in this way just might get them invested in eating more salads!

Farmers Market Excursion Tips:

Here are some ways to get more out of a trip to the farmers market.

• Take the grandkids: This only works when the kids are very young and any kind of outing is an adventure. Beyond that age, most kids are easily bored. Free samples give kids an opportunity to try fruits and vegetables that are new to them and to expand their palate. Keep the trip short.
• Make a snack pack: After a trip to the farmers market, cut up some fruits and vegetables and serve as a snack. I bought two snack boxes with lids: one for vegetables and one for toasted nuts. You can set them up for kids to snack on; serve with salad dressing as a dip
• Vacation tour: We always visit at least one market while on vacation, whether in France, Italy, Japan, or another city or state in the U.S. This is your opportunity to mingle with the locals, explore new foods, and to stock up on some provisions for a picnic.

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