Lemon Herb Dressing

This is my new favorite vinaigrette. I love the mediterranean combination of lemon and olive oil. I think it's the most verstaile dressing I make - it goes well with a wide range of vegetables, from salads, to potatoes, to shredded carrots, to green beans. It's the dressing for Salad Nicoise, Greek Salad, and Carottes Rapees; all you do is vary the herbs you use.

Recipe: Lemon Herb Dressing



See the Vinaigrette Basic Technique (Vinaigrette Basic Technique) for an overview

Ingredients:
*For a pound each of boiled new potatoes and green beans, or a 10 oz bag romaine lettuce (about 3 quarts)

• Juice of 1 lemon (should be about 2 to 3 tbsp)
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest (from the lemon you just juiced)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• pinch of salt
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• 6 tablespoon (⅓ cup plus a little) Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Herbs: 1 tbsp, minced, of any combination of the following:

• Parsley
• Thyme
• Basil
• Oregano

Directions: Easy Way
1. Whisk to blend: Whisk all the ingredients in a small bowl until creamy.*
*Note: Because you don't have the mustard to act as a binder, you need to whisk hard for this to emulsify. Don't worry if it doesn't; it still tastes great. If you're the kind of person who worries, go with the finesse recipe, below.

OR:

Directions: With Finesse
1. Dissolve the salt and sugar: Whisk the salt, sugar, pepper, garlic and lemon juice in a small bowl until the salt and sugar dissolve, usually about 10 seconds.

2. Add the oil slowly: Add the oil in a slow stream, whisking until creamy and emulsified.

3. Add the herbs: Add the minced herbs, and whisk to combine.

Variations:
*Herbs - Any herb would go well here. In addition to the list above, I've made this with tarragon and mint.
*Dried Herbs - fresh are preferable, but if all you have are dried, use half the quantity listed above (total 1 ½ tsp), and let them sit in the lemon juice for a few minutes to rehydrate before adding the olive oil. I do this a lot when I'm making Greek salad; I've never had luck with growing fresh oregano, so I usually wind up using dried oregano.

Notes:
*This vinaigrette is the based on the one for Nicoise Salad - toss some romaine lettuce, boiled green beans and boiled new potatoes in this dressing, and serve with Excellent Canned Tuna, nicoise olives and hard boiled eggs.
*Or, it's Greek salad dressing - use oregano as the only herb. (That's a recipe I'll share another day.)
*I also love this with Carrottes Rapees, a French grated carrot salad (see here for David Lebovitz' great post on this recipe)
*This dressing is hard to emulsify - as you can see in the picture with the whisk, it's already starting to separate. You can (as usual) add a little dijon mustard, but for this dressing I prefer to just live with it separating. I make the dressing, set it aside, then give it an extra whisking right before tossing the salad with it.
*I like the sweet/sour combination of the lemon with a little sugar. Depending on what you're using it with, a little extra sugar (as much as 2tsp) goes well.

Inspired by:
Cook's Illustrated - Nicoise Salad recipe

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