Welcome to What's Cooking, our version of a good old fashioned recipe exchange! Share your recipes with us to be featured! Bonus points if you pair your dish with your favorite Martha Stoumen wine.
Our team created this series as a way to exchange recipes between club members and friends around the country—sort of like setting the table together, even with miles between us. This is my back pocket salad dressing recipe, made with fresh meyer lemon, lots of herbs, and a key ingredient: miso.
HERBY MISO LEMON DRESSING
INGREDIENTS
• 1 lemon (Meyer preferred)
• Good quality olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 bunch of parsley
• Honey
• 1 tbsp white miso
• Kosher salt
• Natural Wine Vinegar, Rosé
INSTRUCTIONS
Starting off the instructions by making it clear that this is all to taste, so be loose with measurements!
Zest one whole lemon into a wide, shallow bowl. Be careful not to get too much of the pith.
Slice that lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl, making sure to keep the seeds out.
Next, you want to dissolve the miso into the lemon juice. Scoop about one heaping tablespoon (no need to be too precise) into the lemon juice and stir until a paste forms. If you need more liquid, depending on how juicy your lemon is, you can add 2 tbsp of vinegar.*
Sweeten things up with a little bit of honey. I go light to start, maybe about 1/3 of a tablespoon. You can always add more to taste after! Incorporate the honey to your miso-lemon paste.
If you have a large clove of garlic, use only 1/4–1/2. Peel the garlic clove and remove the center germ. Then, microplane the garlic into dressing bowl. Again, this is to taste! If your salad base is bitter greens and chicories, you can do more garlic. If your greens are more delicate, opt for less.
Finally, top with olive oil. I don't think people are generous enough with the olive oil in their salad dressings; I generally like to do a ratio of about 2/3 olive oil to 1/3 vinegar/acid. Whisk to combine.
The final touch: I like to pair white miso dressing with flat leaf parsley as a finisher. If you're putting herbs in your salad, I like to put them in the dressing itself—I find it helps to incorporate things a little better. Roughly chop the parsley and add to dressing bowl.
You can use an immersion blender if you prefer a green goddess-like texture. I prefer to chimichurri thickness and toss with still-damp greens from washing.
Finish with black pepper or add black pepper to your salad (my personal favorite is from Diaspora Co., it is life-changing!).
* The Rosé Wine Vinegar has been aged, so it has some of the same characteristics as a Sherry Vinegar. If you don't have white miso, you can use a red miso too! If you're using the Rosé Wine Vinegar, a red miso will hold up well to the aged notes.
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