I came across a vintage magazine ad for a “spicy” home made French salad dressing that called for an entire 1/2 teaspoon (!) of Tabasco along with the more usual French dressing ingredients – no doubt taking its lead from the ‘piquant’ option offered by books such as my mom’s old Home Ec. text.
While I would not call this ‘spicy’, it is kinda zippy, and I really like the fact that there is very little sugar called for – tho’ if you’d like to go sugar-free, go ahead and use a like amount of good honey.
I did swap out my own hot sauce blend for the Tabasco, and would say that if you want a zippier salad dressing, by all means increase the amount of whichever hot sauce you choose to use (Earl’s is another very nice option).
INGREDIENTS
•1/3 cup vinegar
•1/2 tsp hot sauce (or to taste)
•1/2 tsp sugar
•1 tsp salt
•1 tsp paprika
•1 tsp dry mustard
•2/3 cup oil*
*I use veggie oil, because olive oil will turn into a solid lump in the fridge.
Add the vinegar, hot sauce, sugar, and seasonings to a blender jar and pulse to blend.
Scrape down the sides of the jar and, with the blender running, slowly drizzle the oil in through the fee hole at the top, just until the dressing has absorbed all the oil and is thick and creamy-looking.
Store in the fridge until needed. You may need to give it a good shake or whisk to re-blend the dressing, but it’ll all be good to go whenever you are.
For salads, of course, or…
Drizzle a bit over freshly sliced carrot sticks, toss to coat well, then stash in the fridge for a few hours or (always more better) over night.
When ready to serve, bring out of the fridge mebbe thirty minutes before you want to enjoy them and toss with freshly chopped parsley.
Nice, and mebbe even a little, tiny bit better than my more regular French carrot salad, made with my own take on Catalina salad dressing.
And, speaking of the Catalina dressing, check out the results when I replace the called for Catalina with today’s Zippy! French version in a slightly unexpected salsa made from strawberries and green pepper.
Trust me, you’ll want those details, and I’mma gonna give ’em to you…
In tomorrow’s Doris Project post.