Creamy honey-mustard salad dressing

Salad dressings are a delicious way to improve the nutritional value of your salad... AND make it taste better!  Most people think of dressing as a bit of a stain on their diet.  You know, all the low-fat nonsense.  But if you just look at the ingredients of most homemade dressings, you'll see they are wonderfully wholesome.

In fact, while a bowl of raw vegetables might have mega nutrition in it, the addition of some oil will actually improve your absorption of many of those vitamins.  The oil will stimulate the release of digestive enzymes and improve the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins like all those antioxidant carotenes.

Besides, those egg yolks are super foods.  Drives me nuts when I hear of people throwing them out and just eating the whites.  They are actually not high in fat.  And if you let your chickens free range or they have a chance to eat grass, herbs and bugs, they will be relatively high in omega-3 fatty acids.  !!!  A whole range of carotenes, other fat-soluble vitamins, folate, selenium... they are so fabulous.

Steve's grandmother Elisabeth came out for a visit this summer.  My husband grew up with her cooking and it's her Swiss cooking that he longs for as his comfort food.  Her salad dressing is legendary in the family.  I know from experience that extracting a recipe from her would be useless.  She doesn't use them.  So she showed me how to make hers.  It's a creamy honey-mustard dressing made with mayonnaise, cider vinegar, oil, dijon mustard, honey and milk.  I watched.  I learned.  I mastered.  Then I changed it.

We eat a lot of salad at our house all year long.  Because of that, I want to use high-quality ingredients... especially oils.  Since my chickens provide me with high quality eggs, I figured I'd skip the mayo and just start with my own egg yolks and go crazy.  The result is a gorgeous, sweet, creamy dressing.  Here it is...

Ingredients:

• Expeller-pressed sunflower oil, or olive oil
• 2 fresh eggs
• Dijon mustard
• Honey
• Apple cider vinegar
• Milk
• Salt

 Separate your eggs and add 2 yolks to a large bowl.

 To your yolks, add a big spoonful of mustard.

Then add an equally big spoonful of honey and about 1/8 tsp salt.


Mmmmmmm.

Now whisk this all together until it's smooth.

 While you whisk, drizzle in your oil.  Do this until your mixture is really thick.  Maybe 1/4 cup?  But texture will be your guide.  This will be syrupy and thick.

 Next, thin it out by stirring in a few tablespoons of cider vinegar.

Finally, whisk in a few tablespoons of milk.  If you don't do milk, you can leave it out.  But it really gives it a creamy, light flavor that I like.

This recipe makes enough to dress enough salad for my family, and to fill a pint jar for the fridge.

I use this dressing on a basic green salad.  You know, greens, grated carrot, shredded purple cabbage, avocado, cuke... that sort of thing.

Remember, raw eggs yolks can either be incredibly good for you or not.  I would not recommend eating raw eggs from a supermarket.  Only eat them from you own chickens or from a farmer who you trust with a small, healthy flock.

Enjoy!




Recipe:

Creamy Honey-Mustard Dressing

• 2 egg yolks
• Heaping tablespoon of dijon mustard
• Heaping tablespoon of honey
• 1/8 tsp salt
• Whisk this up, then while stirring, drizzle in:
• About 1/4 cup or more expeller-pressed sunflower oil or mild olive oil until it's very thick
• Thin with 2-3 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
• Finish with 2-3 Tablespons of milk.