Becky Lawson wrote:Where I lived in Brazil for a while, the only salad dressing I saw used was mixed on the salad at the time of making. No prep or need to store.
On top of already made salad:
salt and pepper to taste
squeeze of lime juice
splash of apple cider vinegar
splash of oil
Mix with bare hands (very important part)
Agreed! Simplest is best. Though I don't quite understand the value of mixing with bare hands...?
I will occasionally prepare a specialty dressing, like blue cheese or Ceasar, or concoct some recipe based on yogurt or tahini, or blend berries or garlic or mustard or salt-cured lemon into my dressings. But most of the time, I add just a few ingredients directly to the salad as I serve it, then toss and eat. No measurements. No emulsification. No leftovers.
For me, this usually means just a good quality olive oil, a good quality vinegar, salt, and fresh ground pepper. The OP asked for simple, and you can't get much simper than this.
The key is to add these to a salad with good ingredients that I want to shine through: good quality leafy greens, good cheese, and as available plenty of fresh herbs comprising up to a quarter of the total salad greens. I like crunch with my salads, so I will usually throw on pepitas and/or sunflower seeds and/or nuts of some kind.
Finding oil that you like is essential. I use one of just a few brands of extra-virgin olive oil (EVO) with a robust, fruity taste. When I pour it, I want it to really smell like an olive. I sometimes use a bit less EVO and add a splash of pumpkin seed oil and flax seed oil, but those additions are for the health benefits, not for the taste. For taste, you can't beat a good EVO. Occasionally I will substitute walnut oil for a specialty themed salad. Posts above have highlighted the health benefits of raw avocado oil, which is absolutely true. Yet for me, despite that I love eating avocados, I just don't like the taste of avocado oil on my salads. Weird, I know.
Vinegar usually means home-brewed apple cider vinegar. Depending on the type of salad I'm mixing, I will substitute balsamic, or red wine, or white wine, or sherry vinegar, or citrus juices as the mood strikes me. Importantly, never use distilled white vinegar, which I reserve for cleaning purposes only. I suspect this may be why traditional recipes use so much more oil than vinegar - if I were using such harsh tasting vinegar, I'd use less of it, too!
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