Earlier this summer our neighbor Andrea gave us a bottle of a creamy poppy seed salad dressing that she had made. Jerri and I thought it was delicious, and we discussed how to make one as good. We thought that Andrea had started with some kind of cooked base to give it the creamy texture that made it so lovely on our salads.
A few days later, when I was dropping off a sample of something I had cooked, I thanked her for the dressing. I told her that we enjoyed it very much and asked for the recipe. When I remarked about how cooked dressings are so velvety, she said, “It’s not cooked. You just throw everything in the blender to emulsify the oil and vinegar. I found the recipe a long time ago on the web.”
It’s just as easy as she says. Here is what you do.
INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. onion juice or 2 tsp. finely chopped onion
1 1/2 T poppy seeds
PROCEDURE:
Put the vinegar, onion juice (or chopped onion), sugar, mustard and salt in the blender container. Blend the ingredients for twenty to thirty seconds on medium speed to make a smooth liquid. Increase the blender speed to high, and add the oil slowly to make a thick dressing. Turn off the blender and stir in the poppy seeds.
Transfer the finished dressing to serving-size bottles or jars and refrigerate.
NOTES: The recipe makes about one and three quarters cups of dressing. It goes well with both green and fruit salads. Though it tastes quite sweet, two tablespoons contain fewer than twelve grams of carbohydrates.
Courage in the Kitchen 