All dressed up

No offense to the salad but sometimes it’s all about the dressing. Every well-planned salad must have an equally balanced dressing that compliments and clings to its ingredients. A light Italian dressing, smooth Caesar dressing, and a honey balsamic with a sweet kick beats a messy dressing that offends your tastebuds. Every dressing must begin with great olive oil and vinegar. Once they emulsify, the embellishing begins. That’s the fun part.

Marcella Hazan, chef and author of “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking”, explains it perfectly when it comes to achieving that balance, “It takes four people to make a good salad. The Prodigal one for the olive oil, the Stingy one for the vinegar, the Judicious one for the salt, and the Patient one to toss.” We make nine dressings for very different salads so we will need to include the Obssesive one for the sweet, the Cautious one for the citrus, the Affable one for the cheese, and the Intrepid one for the herbs.