When SHE and I got married she said she wondered how I didn’t get bored with eating the same salad every day with lunch. There are only so many ways to put together lettuce, spinach, carrots, tomato and cucumbers. Well, the obvious reason is its essential to get ones vegetable servings for the day. The other reason is it helps when you change it up every once in a while by trying a different salad dressing.
Now let’s back up a few years. Once upon a time I was taking some gourmet cooking classes with a well known local chef. I learned everything from making a awesome osso buco, to grilling game, to some pretty nice salad dressings. I kept most of the recipes he handed out and have them all filed. Recently, I’ve been on an Asian Flavors kick and, to be honest, I feel comfortable enough in the kitchen to experiment with existing recipes and am adventurous enough to be willing to fail. Fortunately, this was NOT a fail. ;)
One of the ways I wooed HER was to make a big meal one night and this home made salad dressing was on the menu. So I took that basic recipe, feeling confident enough, and Asian’ed it up. I served it over pan seared firm tofu and a spinach salad.
Asian Onion Cilantro Vinagrette
• 1 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 cup Rice Wine Vinegar (the kind that says, “for salad dressings” on the label)
• 1 cup Toasted Sesame Oil
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 bunch Cilantro
• 2 bunches of green onions
• 1 large shallot
Instructions:
- Roughly Chop (or rip with your hands--much more fun) Cilantro and onions and place in blender
- Add Lime Juice, Vinegar, shallot, and egg yolk
- Blend on "high" until vegetation is well chopped.
- Drizzle in Sesame oil slowly until it is all incorporated and emulsified into dressing.
Tips:
• If it separates in the fridge, try adding another egg yolk. Or a little mustard powder.
• You can adjust the ratio of onions to cilantro back and forth according to taste.
Now, I know some people don’t much care for the taste of cilantro. Some people even suffer from a rare disorder that makes cilantro taste like soap to them. So feel free to adjust those ratios of onion and cilantro back and forth. I make it every time I get the chance. Try it.
Sounds potent and tasty! One question - why not add the whole egg in??? I am a horrible cook and wonder the "whys" of some recipes. What are you supposed to do with the egg white??
ReplyDeleteThe egg yolk is simply for emulsifying purposes. The additional egg yolk in case may be too much fat for some. If that's the case add a little mustard powder which is also an emulsifier but MAY change the taste a little.
ReplyDeleteDon't some cooks/chefs recommend you freeze the egg whites and put them away for later use?
ReplyDeleteLOL...you guys are funny. Allow me to clarify. The egg yolk adds a little fat and a lot of emulsifying power. This dressing has only a little fat 1/3 by volume of the liquids alone and little fat from the yolk is nice. The reason you want to leave out the egg white, is because as you whip the bejeezus out of the dressing as youre drizzling in the sesame oil to create the emulsion (getting fat & water to mix without separating) the proteins in the egg white will cause any bubbles creating in the whipping process to basically HOLD themselves as they are when created. This will give your dressing the consistency of, hmmmm, lets say, meringue. Which is not what we're looking for. I fancy myself a pretty good cook, (otherwise why would I write a food blog?) and have never worried myself about washing an egg white down the drain. Sorry, Alton Brown (the chef TJ is referring to, I think).
ReplyDeleteThis sounds yummy!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete