One of the first Island-grown produce items you鈥檒l see for sale at farm markets and grocery stores this spring are bags of salad greens, containing an assortment of young lettuces and other flavourful shoots.
In the bag of Kildara Farm (kildarafarms.webs.com) organic greens I bought, the North Saanich farm included items such as oakleaf lettuce, beet leaves, arugula, tah tsai, chard, cress and m芒che.
These greens offer such an interesting mix of tastes that sometimes, when I crave a salad, I鈥檒l just toss them with a dressing. And because the farmer has gone to the trouble of growing such an eclectic array of greens, I鈥檒l go to the trouble of making that salad dressing myself.
If you would like to do that, too, here are three tasty salad dressings for you to try. All nicely accent the taste of local greens and can be used to flavour other salads.
Before I tell you about them, I have a question for you. What is the first or second ingredient listed on the bottles of many mass-produced, commercially made salad dressings, such as those sold by Kraft?
If you said water, you would be right. It is a filler ingredient you won鈥檛 find in many homemade salad-dressing recipes, such as today鈥檚 rich-tasting, coconut sesame ginger dressing.
To make that Asian-style dressing, I blended yogurt-like, dairy-free cultured coconut milk with toasted sesame seeds, soy sauce, rice vinegar, fresh ginger and other items. This dressing is great to toss with local salad greens, but can also be used to flavour Asian-style noodle salads, coleslaw and seafood salads. This dressing also makes a nice dip for chicken satay skewers, tempura or grilled prawns.
My poppy-seed dressing with orange, honey and Dijon will also nicely flavour local greens and other types of leafy salads. You only need two teaspoons of poppy seeds to make this sweet and tangy, mayonnaise-based dressing. For that reason, if you don鈥檛 use poppy seeds very often, you may want to buy what you need for this recipe at a bulk-food store or maybe double that amount, as I believe you鈥檒l enjoy its taste so much, you鈥檒l soon want to make it again.
My last recipe that you could toss local greens or other lettuces with is raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. This dressing is easy to make. Simply place all its ingredients in the cup that came with your immersion (hand) blender, or in a food processor or regular blender, and pulse until smooth and emulsified.
All of today鈥檚 salad-dressing recipes could be doubled or expanded further.
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Coconut Sesame Ginger Dressing
The cultured coconut milk used in this flavourful, Asian-style salad dressing is a dairy-free, yogurt-like product sold in the dairy case of many supermarkets.
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Preparation time: five minutes
Cooking time: None
Makes: About one cup
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2/3 cup plain, cultured coconut milk
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted (see Note)
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp honey, or to taste
2 tsp sesame seed oil
鈥� hot pepper or chili sauce, such as Tabasco or Sriracha, to taste
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Place all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and whisk well to combine. Transfer to a tight-sealing jar and keep refrigerated until needed. Dressing will keep up to a week.
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Note: Some food stores sell bags or containers of sesame seeds that have already been toasted, some do not. If you鈥檝e bought sesame seeds that were not toasted, place what you need for this recipe in a non-stick skillet and set over medium heat. Cook and swirl the seeds a few minutes, until lightly toasted, cool and then add to your salad dressing.
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Poppy-Seed Dressing with Orange, Honey and Dijon
Sweet and tangy, full-flavoured salad dressing that you can toss into your favourite green salad.
Preparation time: five minutes, plus chilling time
Cooking time: About four to five minutes
Makes: About 1 1/4 cup
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1/2 cup orange juice
2/3 cup regular or low-fat mayonnaise
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp poppy seeds
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Place juice in a small skillet and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil until the juice has been reduced to a syrupy 2 Tbsp, then remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.
Place the reduced juice in a medium-sized bowl and whisk in the remaining ingredients. Transfer to a tight-sealing jar and refrigerate. Let dressing sit in the refrigerator a few hours before using, as that will allow the poppy seeds to plump up and soften. Dressing will keep a week to 10 days.
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Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
This quick-to-make, purple/red hued, fruity, slightly sweet and tangy dressing is made by blending its ingredients with an immersion blender, or in a food processor or regular blender.
Preparation time: five minutes
Cooking time: none
Makes: About 1 1/2 cups
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1/2 cup fresh or frozen red raspberries
1/4 cup unsweetened apple or orange juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried oregano, basil or tarragon
鈥� salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place all ingredients in the mixing cup that came with your immersion blender, or put them in a food processor or blender. Pulse the ingredients until very smooth and emulsified.
Transfer dressing to a tight-sealing jar and keep refrigerated until needed. Dressing will keep 10 to 14 days.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
