Creamy Salad Dressing

I wasn’t planning on sharing this not-quite-homemade recipe with you, but my mother insisted and even my little brother, who usually hates mayonnaise, backed her up. The thing is, I can’t stand store-bought salad dressings, and I absolutely will not buy them. (They have such a gloppy texture from all those gums!) Prepared mayonnaise, on the other hand, I’m perfectly OK with. Anyway, this is the quick recipe I make when I’m in the mood for a creamy salad dressing but don’t feel like getting out the food processor and eggs. Everyone seems to love it, and it has inspired certain other people to give up bottled salad dressings too.


Quick Creamy Salad Dressing
Printable Recipe

½ cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 to 2 cloves garlic, grated
2 ½ teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons water
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Blend together the mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, lemon juice, and water in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes about ¾ cup. My personal preference for a brand of mayonnaise is Best Foods/Hellmann’s. This simple salad dressing is very versatile. Try adding minced fresh herbs such as Italian parsley, chives, or basil. Add a minced anchovy and grated Parmegiano to turn it into a Caesar-style dressing. Keeps for a day or two tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

An Ode to Garlic

I love you Garlic.
Potent, pungent,
Purple, white, and elephant,
Or roasted golden, sweet and mellow,
I can even kiss my fellow.
A must for pasta sauce,
Into stir-fries I toss,
Raw, minced in salad,
You satisfy my palate.
I love you Garlic.

Quick Aïoli
Printable Recipe

1 large egg
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 to 3 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the egg, garlic, and mustard in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. With the motor running, add the oil in a thin stream.


Add the lemon juice and pulse again. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


Makes about 1 ¼ cups. Traditionally, aïoli is made with just egg yolk rather than whole egg, and it’s made with a mortar and pestle or whisked by hand. I’m all for short cuts, so I use my trusty food processor. But since a single yolk wouldn’t come up to the blade in a food processor, making it difficult to get the emulsion started, I use the whole egg. The result is slightly less thick but still absolutely delicious. By the way, if you’re uneasy about eating raw eggs, use pasteurized eggs. For a milder tasting aïoli, use half olive oil and half grape seed oil or just a light olive oil. Store-bought mayonnaise pales in comparison to homemade aïoli. Try aïoli on sandwiches or as the base for salad dressings. Stir in minced fresh herbs and use as a dipping sauce for crudités, French fries, or calamari. Really, garlicky aïoli is great on just about everything. Keeps for a day or two tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

Some Days

Some days, I just can’t figure out what to do about dinner. I don’t know what I’m in the mood for, nothing’s calling my name, and I plain don’t feel like cooking (yes, it's true, sometimes even I don’t feel like cooking). On days like that, I just throw together a chicken sandwich.

Now I know what you’re saying, “A chicken sandwich? Snore.” But I don’t mean dry, tasteless chicken slapped between two slices of white bread. What I’m talking about is a tasty and satisfying sandwich that may not even need a side of chips. For some reason, a chicken sandwich always brings out my creative side.

I’ll make paninis with thinly sliced roasted chicken, provolone, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, marinated artichoke hearts, roasted red bell peppers, and pesto mayo. I might whip up chicken, tomato, and cheddar melts on sourdough. Or I try smoked chicken salad on a bun. I really like to build grilled chicken and Guacamole BLTs. And I just created a new favorite, a sandwich with grilled chicken breast, Swiss, lettuce, tomato, and Smokey Mayo on a ciabatta roll.


The Smokey Mayo is so good, you almost don’t need the chicken.


Smokey Mayo
Printable Recipe

½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sweet Spanish paprika
1 clove garlic, grated
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt

Blend together the mayonnaise, paprika, garlic, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt.

Makes enough for 4 to 6 sandwiches. Keeps for a day or two tightly sealed in the refrigerator. Delicious on any type of sandwich, not just a chicken sandwich. Also fantastic as a dip for French fries or crudités and as a substitute for rouille in bouillabaisse.