When I am at home cooking for myself, I am lazy. So I just dress my salads with either an organic brand of prepared salad dressing or just drizzle a bit of olive oil and lemon juice over the greens and call it a day.
But when I am with the Yoga Center people, I need to prepare salad dressings most days I cook for them. Most of the times, we create what we lovingly call Left-Over Dressings. But once in a while I will create such a delicious combination that I will write the ingredients and make it over and over again… such is the case with this Tomato and Basil Dressing.
I created this dressing for the first time during my recent trip to Asunción, Paraguay. Several of us were in charge to cook for the whole group, right before our spiritual retreat. We needed to prepare a salad dressing that will stand up to the delicious greens, sprouts and other veggies we were eating… hey, we were fasting and people get reaaaaaaallly hungry.
The results were so delicious I wrote down the recipe and have been making it a few times since. Each and every time we get great compliments on the flavor and simplicity. Hope you like it as much as my yoga crowd…
TOMATO BASIL DRESSING
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped 1 small cucumber , roughly chopped 1 small red onion, roughly chopped 1 small green bell pepper, cut into medium-sized pieces ½ carrot, peeled and cut into medium chunks 2 garlic cloves, smashed ½ bunch of fresh basil, washed and cut somewhat including the stems 1 tbs salt 1 heaping tbs Garlic & Herbs Seasoning blend Freshly Cracked Black Pepper The juice of 2-3 large green limes 1 cup olive oil A small drizzle of honey or agave nectar
- In a blender, add all the solid ingredients. I like to add the tomatoes first because they’re the most liquid and will create the right environment or the rest of the ingredients to puree well. I also add the salt, pepper, lime or lemon juice and other seasonings.
- Puree well using the blender… let the blender go for a while to ensure the mixture is well pureed.
- While the blender is going, add the olive oil thru the hole on the blenders cover. Drizzle the oil in a small steady stream. This will allow the dressing to emulsify and fir the oil to stay integrated in the dressing and not separate when it’s standing. Add also the drizzle of honey after the oil is integrated.
This recipe will yield you two large jars of dressing (I recycle glass jars for this purpose)… good enough for a hungry crowd like ours. You can certainly scale it down if you prefer or just keep it in the fridge for a whole week of deliciously dressed salads.
KarmaFree Cooking 
