I love citrus and I love this lemon vinaigrette so much. The best part about this dressing is that you can store it for up to one week in your fridge and it’s ready to go whenever you need. The addition of xanthan gum in this vinaigrette recipe means you don’t have to worry about the dressing splitting either. It’s also incredibly easy to make – just add all the ingredients and blend.
Where to Use this Lemon Vinaigrette
This dressing adds a fresh lemon flavour and balance to anything it touches and is awesome when mixed into a grain salads, leafy green salads or drizzled over some steamed vegetables. It’s also dairy-free, gluten free and vegan.
What is Xanthan Gum?
If you’ve never used xanthan gum before and are scared to use it, don’t be. I wrote a little bit about why you don’t have to worry about using xanthan gum here. You can still make this delicious vinaigrette without the xanthan gum but you will have to slowly add in the oil to carefully emulsify it.
Why Should I Emulsify Lemon Vinaigrette?
Most chefs love emulsified sauces because they almost always taste better. An emulsification is just the binding of two ingredients like oil and water which would not normally bind together.
Mayonnaise and hollandaise are perfect examples of this. If you’ve ever tasted a split mayonnaise you will know that it tastes like oil and then vinegar, whereas an emulsified mayonnaise will taste balanced and combined. And of course, a split mayonnaise will look horrible too.
There are some exceptions like salsa verde and some fresh pestos that are purposely left un-emulsified. This is okay and often desired but generally we want emulsified dressings because the taste is superior.
What Can You Use Lemon Vinaigrette With?
Lemon vinaigrette is pretty neutral so you can use it with many applications.
- Pick some fresh salad leaves from the garden and toss with a bit of this dressing
- Really nice with almost any steamed vegetable
- Mix into grain salads, spelt, quinoa, barley salads
- Just about any salad you can think of
Necessary Tools
Hand Blender – A hand blender is necessary to properly mix the xanthan gum and get a smooth dressing.
Citrus Vinaigrette – The All-Purpose Dressing
Equipment
Ingredients
- 100 ml lemon juice 2-3 medium lemons
- 50 ml orange juice 1 orange
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp mustard
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/16 tsp xanthan gum
- 100 ml olive oil extra virgin and high quality
- 100 ml peanut oil or any other neutral oil (not coconut oil)
Sweating the Shallot
- 60 g shallot about one medium sized shallot
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsps water
Instructions
- Slice the shallot into a julienne (thinly sliced longways). Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil and heat over low medium-low heat.
- Once the pan is hot add the onions and turn down to low heat. Add the 2 tbsp water and a pinch of salt. Cook slowly for about 5-10 minutes taking care that the shallot does not brown at all.
- The shallots will look translucent like this when ready. This step removes the raw onion flavour and sweetens the shallots slightly.
- Add everything together and blend.
- The vinaigrette may need a touch more of lemon juice or a small pinch of salt to finish it, but this is all personal preference. Season to your liking.Store in a squeeze bottle or mason jar. Keep for no more than one week.
Notes
Nutrition
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