Tarragon-Chive Vinaigrette

Finding healthy salad dressings that also taste good used to be challenging. I discovered that the reason I liked salads so much was due to the flavorful but often unhealthy, high fat, or dairy laden dressings I used. I made it a mission to find ways to make salad dressing at home that would satisfy both my taste buds and my health criteria. As I’ve mentioned in previous salad dressing posts, finding the secret of guar gum powder has allowed me to explore many oil based dressing recipes by simply replacing the oil called for with an equal amount of water, then adding a pinch of guar gum at the end to thicken it up. That’s how I approached the “Tarragon-Chive Vinaigrette”, page 100. The recipe called for ½ cup of olive oil, which I replaced with ½ cup of water. When the dressing ingredients were all mixed together, I added ¼ teaspoon of guar gum and shook vigorously to incorporate, and it thickened up perfectly.

The dressing itself is a flavorful twist on a basic vinaigrette. Tarragon vinegar, plus dried or fresh tarragon, provide a lovely herbal base with a subtle anise flavor, and if you have fresh chives it makes all the difference, adding just a touch of peppery spice. I used it on green salad, but the recipe notes also suggest it would be good drizzled over roasted or steamed asparagus.

Keeping it “McDougall Friendly” check list:

• Instead of using ½ of oil (which adds 108 grams of fat, and 955 calories), use ½ cup of water, and thicken with ¼ - ½ teaspoon of guar gum, as described above.