Simple & Memorable Salad Dressings

The weather is getting warmer, so many vegetables are traveling shorter distances on their way to your plate. It's salad season!

We have concocted a list of summery, savory salad dressings to get your taste buds buzzing and hopefully inspire you to try some of your own.

Lime Dressing – A dressing with a soft tang.

• Juice of one Lime
• A couple tablespoons of oil (olive or walnut)
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Dijon-Maple Dressing – A heartier dressing.

• A couple tablespoons of oil (olive)
• One big teaspoon of dijon mustard
• A splash of vinegar (I have been using the sherry wine vinegar lately)
• One teaspoon of maple syrup
• 1/2 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves, chopped
  
• Salt and pepper to taste

Smoked Paprika - A robust dressing.

• A couple tablespoons of oil (olive or walnut)
• A splash of sherry wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste

Focaccia

We hosted another dinner party last night for a handful of friends who are visiting.

Justine baked a magnificent focaccia, based on a recent recipe from Saveur. Baking in the iron skillet is usually a success. We had the baking stone in the oven as well, and the overall cooking time was a little over half what the recipe stated.

A Short Rant About Bulk Food and Whole Foods

One of the biggest negatives (and there are many) to Whole Foods’ monopolization of natural food in the United States is their decision to not sell foods in bulk.* Overuse of packaging in food products has been one of the major problems with food quality in this country, and it also has significant ramifications for health and nutrition and, of course, environmental degradation.

Buying food in bulk, though certainly not a silver bullet, reduces one’s carbon footprint by reducing the use of harmful plastics and scarce tree resources and encourages the purchase and consumption of healthy amounts of calories. You buy just what you need, not what the manufacturer decides is the most profit-efficient amount to sell you.

As I was growing up, part of the natural food store experience was perusing the bulk bins. It was easy, economical and actually even fun to shop that way. Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco has wonderful bulk food sections. In my neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, The Garden and Tops both have meager bulk sections… but I still try to buy whatever I can from there, since even a tiny bulk section is a rarity in New York City.

On a related note, we recently picked up some mind-blowing maple syrup from Green Wind Farm in Vermont (grade B of course), and it comes packaged in a mason jar, which encourages reuse of containers and the purchase of bulk food. Great idea! Now we need soymilk in traditional, returnable milk bottles.
*Other than some meats and fresh vegetables which are not pre-packaged at WF. Trader Joe’s, on the other hand, only sells pre-packaged fresh vegetables and should be condemned for it.