This dijon-tarragon salad dressing recipe offers a delicious, homemade dressing for salads as well as vegetables. I made it over the weekend and used it on a kale salad, a green salad, and even over rice. It got rave reviews from everyone in the family!
To make this recipe, all you need is a clean Mason jar, a plastic cap, and the ingredients. That’s it. No fancy equipment, no special items.
I prefer to use fresh lemon juice in all my salad dressing recipes that call for citrus. I think that freshly squeezed lemon juice has a brightness to the flavor that I never taste in bottled lemon juice.
Did you know that you can tell which citrus fruit will be juicy by its weight? Pick up the lemon and hold it in your hand and compare it to another. A lemon, orange, or other citrus fruit with “heft” and weight to it is likely to have more juice in it than a lighter one. Lightness in citrus fruit indicates it has dried out.
The original dijon-tarragon salad dressing recipe that this is based on, found in Victoria Magazine, calls for fresh tarragon. I only have fresh tarragon from the garden during the summer. I substituted dried tarragon instead and the recipe came out just as tasty.
If using fresh tarragon, add two tablespoons of diced leaves.
Along with the tarragon substitution, I also substituted plain white vinegar for champagne vinegar in the original recipe. If the local Wal-Mart doesn’t sell it, I can’t use it, period. I live in a rural area, and we have only two small supermarkets plus the giant Wal-Mart supercenter nearby. I have to find all my recipe ingredients at these stores or the Amish store – and I guarantee you they won’t carry champagne vinegar!
Ready to whip up some homemade salad dressing?
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
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If you grow radishes, then you know that radish recipes are few and far between. This recipe for garden radish salad is delicious, healthy, and easy enough to whip up in a few minutes
Why are radish recipes so hard to find? Radish salad is delicious and easy to make.
Radishes are quite easy to grow in the spring garden. They thrive in cool weather and can withstand a spring frost with ease. In fact, the cooler the weather, the better. They turn hot as firecrackers when the warm weather arrives.
Browse the produce aisle at your local supermarket. You will find the red globe radish, a standard for salads and garnishes.
But there’s a whole world of radishes available. White, red, purple…French breakfast radishes…Japanese, Chinese, and Asian radishes. They all need cool weather, loamy soil, water, and sunshine to grow well. You can grow radishes in pots or containers easily, too.
This recipe for radish salad uses red globe radishes, but if you’ve grown another type, feel free to experiment. It’s best enjoyed fresh, right after you’ve picked and cleaned your radishes, but feel free to make radish salad with radishes from the supermarket if you haven’t grown any yourself.
To make this radish recipe, you’ll need:
Clean and slice radishes and celery very thin. Rinse and drain the chickpeas. Combine in a large bowl, tossing to mix well. Mix the dressing of vinegar, oil, and water in a measuring cup, whisking it together. Pour over the vegetables, stir to mix, and serve. Serve with a sprinkle of coarse salt. Makes 2 generous portions.
My dinner salad last night! And yes, those are the same radishes in the picture above. Talk about fresh food and garden to table dining!
Enjoy!
From the “what do I do with it?” files, I’ve put together a healthy recipe for tarragon chicken salad to show you just one of the many wonderful ways in which you can use garden-grown tarragon in the kitchen.
Tarragon is an herb that many Americans aren’t familiar with, and that’s a shame. It’s often used in French cuisine, and the first time I tasted this delicacy was at a restaurant headed by a French chef.
I fell in love with the sweet, slightly tangy taste of tarragon that day. Since then, anytime I have chicken, I load it up with dried tarragon from my pantry.
Tarragon can be fussy to grow here in Virginia, so many gardening books recommend that for southern gardeners, a variety called Mexican tarragon or Texas tarragon can be grown instead. I grew Mexican tarragon in my herb garden this year and it thrived in the hot climate and slightly sandy soil where I grow my herbs.
Healthy Recipes: Tarragon Chicken Salad
Tarragon pairs well with chicken for this healthy summer treat. You can use leftover chicken from a roast or cook up and dice several chicken breasts for the meat.
Ingredients:
Dice the chicken and celery and mix in a bowl. Mix mayo, lemon juice, salt and pepper and tarragon, then stir it into the chicken and celery mix. Lastly, mix in some of the halved grapes. Serve on a bed of Romaine lettuce. Unused portions should be covered and refrigerated immediately.
Enjoy!
This rustic Tuscan bean salad recipe contains an abundance of protein, healthy carbohydrates and fiber…and flavor. Did I mention flavor? Bright, with overtones of onion and basil that will engage your sense in this healthy, wonderful salad. It’s a recipe from the garden worth keeping.
This rustic Tuscan bean salad recipe came to me today after reading through numerous recipes in the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. As you may recall from other recipes I’ve shared, the original cookbook, published in 1896, contains so much common sense cooking wisdom, basic recipes for everything from German potato salad to corn bread, and everything in between that it is my go-to book for all types of recipes.
I found the Tuscan bean salad recipe in the cookbook and adapted it to my own needs and tastes. I’ve cut way back on sugar, so no added sugars. I didn’t have fresh basil on hand as the original recipe called for, so I substituted some dried basil from last year’s garden. I did have fresh parsley, thanks to a wonderful plan purchased last year from my friend Beth’s Long Ears Herb Farm which was so robust and healthy it wintered over in the garden.
You can use canned cannelli (white) beans and canned tuna fish to make the recipe. Canned beans contain a high amount of salt, so it is best to drain and rinse the beans before adding them to the recipe. I pour the can into a colander and rinse them thoroughly under cool running water, stirring with a spoon until all of the liquid from the canned beans has been rinsed off.
For tuna fish, use the driest, flakiest tuna you can find. Water or oil packed doesn’t matter, but you want nice chunky tuna for this recipe.
Recipe for Tuscan Bean Salad: Ingredients
From the garden…
From the pantry…
Tuscan Bean Salad Directions
Place the washed, shredded lettuce into a serving bowl. Add one scoop of about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the Tuscan bean salad recipe over the lettuce. Drizzle with remaining vinegar and oil dressing from the bowl.
Serves 2 large portions of 4 smaller portions.
I hope you enjoyed delightful recipe from the garden. Keep growing, keep creating. Happy gardening!
