Low Fat Cooking - Salads & Dressing

 Use Tea To Reduce Oil In A Basic Vinaigrette

The three-to-one oil-to-vinegar ratio of a classic vinaigrette yields 10 grams of fat and 90 calories in a single tablespoon. You can cut back on the oil and still have enough dressing for a salad by using equal amounts of vinegar, oil and, believe it or not, strong brewed tea. This produces a mellow vinaigrette that is neither bland nor overly acidic.

FAT SAVINGS: A 60% reduction in fat over a traditional vinaigrette. Commercial bottled vinegar-and-oil dressings vary greatly in fat - anywhere from 1 to 13 grams per tablespoon.

ADDING HINT OF GARLIC TO VINAIGRETTE - Spear a garlic clove onto a fork. Use the fork to vigorously whisk vinegar, oil, tea and seasonings until well blended.

WHY OLIVE OIL? "Extra-Virgin" olive oil is recommended when olive oil is called for. The words "extra-virgin" and "cold pressed" on the label of the olive oil bottle refer to a low-acid oil that has not been refined by heat or solvents. This type of olive oil tastes much better than lower-grade oils, which have been scrubbed of flavor, color and aroma. Olive oil brings the most flavor to any recipe.

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Basic Vinaigrette
Greens & Gorgonzola Salad

Choose Mellow Vinegars As A Way To Cut Oil In A Dressing

Flavorful, lower-acid vinegars, such as balsamic vinegar, high-quality red-wine vinegar and raspberry vinegar, allow you to get away with less oil in a dressing. The mellower the vinegar, the less oil you need to counteract the acidity.

FAT SAVINGS: These dressings have half the fat of traditional vinaigrettes.

BALSAMIC VINEGAR: WHAT IS IT? Made in Northern Italy from Trebbiano grape juice and aged like wine, balsamic vinegar is dark, sweet and complex. Most of the balsamics sold in the United States are commercially produced; they are less concentrated and less complex than the traditionals, but offer the same balance of sweet and tart.

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Maple-Balsamic Vinaigrette
Raspberry Vinegar Dressing
Basil Vinaigrette

Add Fruit Juices To Extend Salad Dressings Without Fat

The juice of mildly acidic citrus fruits is a natural for fresh-tasting salad dressings. Look for other fruit nectars and juices that have some acidity; apricot nectar and cranberry juice are two excellent choices.

FAT SAVINGS: At 1, 2, or 3 grams of fat per tablespoon, these dressings are great for people on very low-fat diets.

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Apricot Dressing
Asparagus with Tangerine & Sesame Seed Dressing
Ginger-Orange Dressing
Salad of Mache & Beets with Cranberry Dressing
Jicama Slaw

Substitute Cottage Cheese And Buttermilk For Sour Cream

If you find that nonfat or reduced-fat sour cream lacks the dairy flavor of the full-fat version, try pureeing 2 parts low-fat (1%) cottage cheese and 1 part buttermilk.

FAT SAVINGS: One cup of full-fat sour cream contains 48 grams of fat. A blend of 2/3 cup low-fat cottage cheese and 1/3 cup buttermilk contains 2 grams of fat.

BUTTERMILK: WHAT IS IT? Despite it's high-fat name, buttermilk is a great asset for the low-fat cook. Today's commercial buttermilk is no longer a by-product of butter-making: it is nonfat or low-fat milk that has bacteria added to it, which thickens the milk and imparts a mild acidity.

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Beets & Citrus Salad with Creamy Dressing

Rely On Buttermilk For A Low Fat Salad Dressing That Keeps Well

Buttermilk, with its pleasant dairy tang, goes well with fresh herbs, and it has enough body to make a creamy dressing that coats your greens quite nicely.

FAT SAVINGS: Just because a commercial dressing is labeled "made with buttermilk" is no guarantee that it is lower in fat. Commercially prepared buttermilk dressings range from 3 to 10 grams of fat per tablespoon. Ones made from scratch contain only 1 to 2 grams of fat.

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Poppy Seed Dressing
Creamy Herb Dressing

Grate Juicy Fresh Tomatoes As A Base For Low Fat Dressing

When you grate red-ripe tomatoes the juice is thicker than if you had squeezed them, making it just right for a fresh-tasting salad dressing.

FAT SAVINGS: Half the fat of a commercial French dressing, with none of the too-sweet, canned-tomato taste.

GRATING A TOMATO: To grate a tomato, set a small-holed grater over a shallow bowl. Grate cut side of tomato halves, pressing with your palms to flatten the skin as the flesh is grated. Discard the skin.

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 Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette 

Make Homemade Mayonnaise with Buttermilk And Very Little Oil 

Start with buttermilk, an egg, some cornstarch and a few seasonings and cook gently to thicken. Whisk in oil and lemon juice. It's mayonnaise. The mayo is great on its own or as a base for exciting flavor variations.

FAT SAVINGS: With just 1 gram of fat in a tablespoon, this glossy golden mayonnaise has one-tenth the fat of the homemade original. And it tastes better than commercial low fat mayos.

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Amazing Mayonnaise
Aioli
Sesame-Ginger Dressing
Curried Mayonnaise
Watercress Dressing
Coleslaw

Add Body, Flavor And Not A Gram Of Fat To Salad Dressings
With Versatile Nonfat Yogurt

Yogurt is so handy in so many recipes that there should always be some in the refrigerator. It adds body and rich dairy flavor to salad dressing, but its sharp tang often needs sweetening with a little sugar or honey.

FAT SAVINGS: Full-fat yogurt contains 8 or 9 grams of fat per cup; nonfat yogurt, of course, contains none.

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 Honey-Mustard Dressing

Temper The Bite Of Raw Garlic By Mashing It With Salt
 Before Incorporating Into A Dressing

A lot of oil in a dressing tends to mellow the assertiveness of raw garlic. But in lower-oil dressings, minced raw garlic can be unpleasant. If you love the warmth and depth garlic lends to salads, but don't want that bite, try mashing whole garlic cloves and salt before adding to a dressing. Kosher salt works best because of its coarser grain. You will find the mashing technique useful in any number of recipes that call for garlic.

FAT SAVINGS: Commercial garlic-flavored salad dressings have up to 9 grams of fat in a tablespoon; none has the great garlicky flavor found in the homemade versions made as mentioned above.

TO MASH GARLIC: Sprinkle peeled cloves with kosher salt. With the flat of a large knife, mash to a fine paste. Use knife to scrape garlic into a mixing bowl.

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 Tuna & Tomatoes Provencale

Roast Garlic To Replace Fat In Robust Dressings

After 45 minutes in a hot oven, a head of garlic is transformed to a sweet, aromatic, almost buttery substance that is easy to incorporate into salad dressings.

FAT SAVINGS: A Caesar salad made with a roasted-garlic dressing has one-fifth to one-fourth the fat of the standard Caesar salad. Roasted garlic helps cut fat in potato and pasta salads too.

TO ROAST GARLIC: Slice the tip off a head of garlic, exposing the cloves. Set on a square of aluminum foil, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon water and pinch edges of foil together. Roast for 45 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Unwrap the roasted garlic and let cool slightly. Squeeze the soft garlic from the cloves into a mixing bowl or food processor.

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 Garlic Croutons
Garlic-Lemon Dressing
Potato Salad