Lemon Vinaigrette

• Ingre­di­ents:
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• ¹⁄₄ tsp. fine­ly grat­ed lemon zest
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. reg­u­lar or light mayonnaise
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. Dijon mustard
• Pinch of sugar
• 3 tbsp. extra-vir­gin olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Pep­per to taste

Scrimp You Must Not!

Use high-qual­i­ty ingre­di­ents in this recipe: The mayo emul­si­fies the lemon juice and olive oil; cheap­er ingre­di­ents will have fillers and preser­v­a­tives that won’t let them blend well.

Com­bine lemon juice, zest, may­on­naise, mus­tard, sug­ar, salt and pep­per to taste in a non­re­ac­tive bowl. Whisk until the lumps of may­on­naise are all gone and it looks milky.

Put the oil in a mea­sur­ing cup; whisk­ing con­stant­ly, driz­zle the oil into the lemon juice mix­ture very slow­ly. If oil starts pud­dling up on the sur­face, stop driz­zling the oil and whisk until the oil is all gone, then start driz­zling again. The dress­ing should be glossy and slight­ly thick­ened, with no oil puddles.

This dress­ing is best on mild greens.

Who Doesn’t Love Garlic?

 For a hint of gar­lic fla­vor, rub the inside of the sal­ad bowl with a clove of gar­lic before adding the lettuce.

Nonreacting Like a Boss!

Some ingre­di­ents and/or del­i­cate fla­vors react with cer­tain mate­ri­als, mak­ing them turn yucky col­ors or taste metallic.

If a recipe spec­i­fies non­re­ac­tive cook­ware, use stain­less steel, ceram­ic, glass or met­al coat­ed with ceram­ic: They’re all nonreactive.

Cop­per, alu­minum, cast iron or cop­per are all reac­tive. Noth­ing wrong with any of them, but if the recipe calls for non­re­ac­tive cook­ware, your taste­buds will thank you if you avoid them.