February 22 2012

Citrus & Salad Dressing: Notes on food, cooking and life from Tricia's Kitchen

Written by  Tricia Wheeler
Citrus & Salad Dressing: Notes on food, cooking and life from Tricia's Kitchen Photo by Carole Topalian
I am in love with fresh citrus. When the weather turns cold and local fruit is nowhere to be found, I place a plain brown box order with my favorite California citrus farm – Friends Ranches, friendsranches.com. I first discovered Friends Ranches when I tasted their delicious Ojai pixies in Santa Barbara during the edible national conference. Everywhere you looked were big bowls of Ojai pixies – I think I ate 20 a day! Maybe more. When I returned from California I could not stop thinking about those delicious little pixies. And when I placed my order it came with another surprise – wonderful bacon avocados. The makings of a beautiful salad!

This summer I did a cooking demo at North Market with Wayward Seed Farm. I served a pretty salad of thinly sliced watermelon radishes and baby turnips over mixed greens. I topped it with a salad dressing I whipped up that morning. The problem was I never wrote down the recipe. I cook by instinct. I taste and adjust flavors and seasoning. I rarely follow a recipe or remember what I added to make something memorable. I am the kind of cook who never makes the same meal twice.

 

I have had lots of requests for that salad dressing. The best I can remember is it had honey, Dijon mustard, brown sugar, maple syrup, a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper. I put it all in the food processor and then would taste and adjust. If a salad dressing is too tart, I add more sugar. If it is too sweet, I add more vinegar. If it tastes flat, I give it a squeeze of a lemon, orange or grapefruit. Nothing is better on salad than a great home made salad dressing. I have included a couple of my tried and true recipes that I did manage to measure and record.

A box of citrus from Friend's Ranches is also the perfect gift. It will be sure to make someone's day.

Basil, Mint and Orange Vinaigrette

1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar, or to taste
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Add all vinaigrette ingredients to bowl and whisk. Then slowly drizzle in vegetable oil, or combine all ingredients in a blender. Drizzle over orzo, mix well with all ingredients serve at room temperature or chilled.

Citrus Vinaigrette

10 T olive oil
2 T grapefruit juice
3 T balsamic vinaigrette
1 T sugar
salt & pepper to taste

To make vinaigrette—whisk, grapefruit juice, balsamic vinegar, sugar, salt & pepper; slowly drizzle in olive oil and whisk.

Published in Edible Kitchen
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