The orange dressing in Japanese restaurants is a weakness of mine.
No matter how much they boost the price of the salad (even if it’s only iceberg lettuce, some carrot sticks, and a few cherry tomatoes), I will always get it. I’m shelling out $5 for what amounts to orange dressing.
So I’m eating this brilliant orange dressing, and I’m wondering, what is this? Given that this dressing is so unnaturally orange, I can only assume that it has been chemically processed with the addition of artificial colors like Red #40 and Yellow #5. And it’s delicious.
The other day, Kaitlin shocked me by telling me that she had created a carrot ginger dressing and thought it was delicious. To which I respond, “Carrot Ginger dressing, really?”
To which she said, “Yeah, like the sort you get at the sushi places.”
Carrots. My neon orange dressing wouldn’t be as bright without that.
There is beauty in nature.
Since then, I’ve been determined to create my own homemade version of Carrot Ginger dressing through trial and error with several recipes.
However, the finest thing is.
The car is mine to pick out. That slack iceberg must end. Nectarine salads are the order of the day.
The luscious nectarines, crisp summer radishes, sweet corn, fresh basil, and aromatic mint in this salad are like a taste of summer in your mouth. In Beijing, where the local market is directly influenced by the growing season, we eat much more seasonally.
Prepare it and savor a delightfully light and nutritious meal as the sun shines through your lunchtime window.
Ingredients:
Dressing:
- 1 medium peeled and roughly chopped carrot
- 1 dash of sesame oil
- 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
- ¼ cup of roughly chopped onion
- 1/4 cup of rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons of finely grated ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons of sugar
- salt and pepper
Salad:
- 4 nectarines; sliced
- 2 chicken breasts
- 2 ears of steamed sweet corn; kernels removed
- 1 bunch of sliced thinly radishes
- 1 small thinly sliced red onion
- 1 cup of toasted walnuts
- a handful of torn fresh basil
- a handful of torn mint
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Assorted lettuce
Instructions:
Mix the dressing ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
- Sprinkle some salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken breasts and pat them dry. To fully cook them, sear them in a hot pan coated with olive oil. Make chicken slices.
- Mix the corn, radishes, red onion, and nectarines with the dressing and serve over lettuce leaves.
- Layer the dressing on top, then add the chicken, basil, and walnuts.