California Gourmet Salad Dressing

This week I wanted to celebrate spring with a simple, sugar-free salad dressing that is perfect for all the emerging spring greens.

Most bottled salad dressings, as you may know, contain either refined white sugar or corn syrup, or both. Taking a quick look at the labels on salad dressing in the supermarket, I found these sweeteners as one of the top four ingredients for most of the major brands. The brands sold in natural food stores were better, using organic evaporated cane juice, honey, or no sweetener at all.

If you want a bottled, organic, sugar-free salad dressing, check out Annie's Naturals salad dressings. They are sweetened with honey or no sweetener at all, and widely available in most supermarkets and natural food stores.

But it's easy and economical to make your own. Here's my favorite to get you started. And I have many more delicious salad dressings coming.

I learned this dressing when I lived in California. Most of the trendy restaurants that serve gourmet salads with specialty greens dress them in this way. I've found it works beautifully on any leafy greens, and not very well on iceberg lettuce. It is more of a technique than a recipe, so no amounts are given. It is very light and flavorful.

1. Wash your lettuce and make sure it is dry. Use a salad spinner or blot the lettuce with clean cotton towels.

2. Sprinkle the lettuce with good olive oil or other good oil of your choice. Do not use flavorless vegetable oil. Toss the oil with the lettuce. Use enough oil to coat the leaves so they glisten, but not so much that it puddles in the bottom of the bowl. This coating of oil protects the lettuce leaves from the acid of the vinegar or lemon juice and your salad will stay fresh longer. Start with a small amount of oil and add more as needed. After you do this a few times, you'll start to learn how much oil is needed.

3. Sprinkle the oil-coated lettuce with vinegar of your choice, or lemon or lime juice, to taste. I usually use balsamic vinegar or Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. Toss to distribute evenly.

4. Sprinkle with finely chopped fresh herbs of your choice. I grow parsley, thyme, rosemary, and sweet basil on my back porch in pots, and these often end up in the salad.

5. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

6. If I am adding other ingredients, such as green onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, other seasonal vegetables, cheese, or nuts, I add them at the end and then toss. They will get coated with the dressing, too.