This month’s edition of Kitchen Bootcamp called for us to investigate salads and dressings. I was really excited about this as one of my goals this summer had been to work on some different dressings. Unfortunately, as seems to often be the case chez moi, life kinda sorta got in the way and I found myself working on my tasks very close to departing for vacation. So I hereby present to you my (Everything but the) Kitchen (sink) Bootcamp entries for this round!
You know what it’s like when you are leaving on a trip, right? You have to be super creative to use us all the food in the house so that you don’t have to throw any out. I found myself with cucumbers and sour cream. Which was perfect because right there in Chapter 30, page 952 of The Professional Chef is a Classic Polish Cucumber Salad.
Even though this did not involve any real skill, it was great because it reminded me what a wonderful salad dressing cam be made with only a few ingredients. As I didn’t have everything on hand, and my cucumbers seemed to be fairly juicy, I changed the recipe slightly, omitting the lemon juice in favour of lemon zest.
eat. live. travel. write.
adapted from The Professional Chef, page 952
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 large cucumber (about 0.5 lb)
1/4 teaspoon salt
100g sour cream
3 tablespoons chopped dill
1/2 tablespoon tarragon vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
salt and freshly ground black pepper, as needed
Method
1. Peel the cucumber, cut in half lengthwise , deseed if necessary and slice into thin half-moons
2. Place in bowl and mix with salt. Allow cucumber to rest for about 30 minutes, drain and squeeze dry.
3. Add sour cream, dill and vinegar to the cucumbers and mix. Season with lemon zest, salt and pepper.
4. Serve immediately or refrigerate for later.
This was a great salad on a hot night and just goes to show you what you can do, even with a fridge full of odd ingredients!
Next up? I had planned on something with a Japanese twist, and had even asked Rachael for some recipes since, you know, she’s the queen of all things Japanese!) Unfortunately, the refrigerator cleanout took precedence over creativity and I needed to use up some sad looking ginger and a lemon. I hunted around and found this recipe that looked like it might taste good on my green beans and sugar snap peas, also on their way out. Again, I adapted based on what I had on hand.
eat. live. travel. write.
adapted from Allrecipes.com
Ingredients
1/2 cup ginger infused grapeseed oil
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup Ponzu
1 lemon, juiced and zested
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
Method
Whisk all ingredients in a small bowl or jug.
I served this over some fresh sugar snap peas to start…
And then later on I served it over pan fried vegetable dumplings (also needing to be eaten up!) as a warm dressing:
This was perfect, nice and light so not heavy and overpowering. I could see this being used as a dipping sauce also…
A fabulous challenge Jen – thanks so much! Not only did I get to try two new dressings but you also helped me clean out my fridge before my vacation! Looking forward to next month already!
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Weirdddd. Had sour cream dressing on my salad for the past three days. So good and light though!
That sounds like such a great dressing – and serving it warm is a wonderful idea. Lemon zest. Got it.
That ginger sesame dressing sounds so flavorful, with a really nice balance of sweet, salty, and zippy (the ginger, that is).
looks delicious
oh, thank you for these! one of my summer kitchen goals was very similar – to find a few “go-to” dressing/vinaigrette recipes that i could whip up for easy and quick salads to go with the abundant CSA produce we have this time of year. i’ve been a bit lackadaisical about it lately, so i was so glad to see these new recipes. and that cucumber and sour cream salad? reminds me of childhood – it was one of my favorites, made by both my mom and my grandma.
You’d enjoy the second one very much..
Thanks for some new salad dressing ideas.
Jason
You’re welcome – I really think I should do this much more (experiment in the kitchen).
both look so delicious
Wow these are all fantastic! Exceptional use of everything but the kitchen sink:) Have a great trip…
LOL! Thanks!
I’ve never seen fridge cleaning look so delicious. Not a green hairy mould filled jar to be seen!
(also never seen fresh peas look so good, damn!)
Yeah they were a bonus to find the day before leaving for vacation!
This dressing works well. love the combination. And how refreshing!
Yes the flavours of the second on especially were really tasty.
I love the sour cream dressing on the cucumbers! I cannot wait to try this one! I am so wrapped in vinaigrette dressings that I didn’t even think of a creamy one but I have a surplus of sour cream and a great idea thanks to you! (every time we have gone to the store the last week and a half I’ve been convinced we are out of sour cream, I’m pretty sure I have a gallon stock piled right now!)
Yes I was surprised how light this sour cream one was! Perfect for summer!
I love this lemon-ginger sesame dressing… It looks amazing! Thanks for submitting this for the Kitchen Bootcamp challenge!
Thanks for hosting!
I love the idea of lemon-ginger dressing, definitely will try this. Those veggie dumplings look amazing
It so simple and tasty!
I am glad there is bootcamp on salad dressing, I started making my own salad dressing about a 2 years ago and never have looked back. I like this one with sour cream. I have seen something similar type with yogurt, called raita. Have you heard or tried it?
It’s actually not a bootcamp just on salads – check out the link – we’re working our way through the Professional Chef!!!! And yes, LOVE raita!
A great read… inspiring and looks tasty.
Valerie
Thanks!
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