TIP OF THE DAY: Salmon Salad With Easy Homemade Ranch Dressing
 Pretty as a picture, and much tastier. Photo courtesy Stasty.com. |
If you have less-than-great memories of salmon salad made from less-than-stellar canned salmon: Forget them. They have nothing to do with this delicious salmon salad recipe—something you can be assured of just by looking at the tempting photo.
This salmon salad is the creation of blogger Vicky at Stasty.com. Vicky is hard core: She makes her own butter, and the by-product is buttermilk. “So I made some scrumptious buttermilk dressing, otherwise known as ranch dressing.” said Vicky. “To me, store bought ranch dressing is usually too sweet and gloopy, and nothing like the real thing. However, homemade ranch dressing is so divine; you can almost eat it on its own. “Fresh buttermilk does make a difference and makes a really light and creamy ranch dressing. The white wine vinegar gives it a bit of bite and the dill makes it taste fresh and tangy. |
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“There are so many ways to use ranch dressing: on fresh green salads, on baked potatoes or as a dip. It’s a pretty versatile dressing, so I usually make a double batch to keep in my fridge, ready for all eventualities!” Here, Vicky pairs ranch dressing with simple but colorful mixed greens and hot smoked salmon (“hot” refers to the smoking process, not the temperature of the fish—types of hot smoked salmon). You can use grilled salmon, poached salmon, and certainly, any leftover salmon. If your fishmonger sells salmon scraps, by all means save the money and grill them for the salad. Serve warm or chilled. The key here is to contrast the rosy color of the salmon against the greens and white dressing. You can also use Arctic char, shrimp or lobster—or a combination. And you can add more color with cherry or grape tomatoes. We had leftover boiled Yukon Gold potatoes and added them, sliced, as well. |
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STASTY’S RANCH DRESSING
Ingredients |
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Preparation
1. MIX the buttermilk with the mayonnaise and white wine vinegar in a medium sized bowl or pitcher. Use a small hand whisk to smooth out any lumps. 2. ADD the crushed garlic, chopped dill and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well with the whisk and store in an airtight jar in the fridge. I find if you leave the dressing in the fridge for a few hours before serving, the flavours really develop. 3. ASSEMBLE the salad: Plate the greens and scatter the salmon or other fish on top. Drizzle dressing on top, and provide extra dressing on the side for those who want more. Garnish and serve. If you’re not familiar with buttermilk, it’s a delicious beverage, like drinkable yogurt. In earlier times, when butter was churned at home, there was always plenty of buttermilk to drink and cook with. It adds richness to recipes from cake to fried chicken. If you don’t have it on hand or don’t want to buy a quart, make what you need by adding white vinegar to regular milk: 1. ADD a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar (not white wine vinegar) to a one-cup measure. 2. FILL to the rim with milk. Let stand five minutes.
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