Jeff Keys - Well Dressed: Salad Dressings

Well Dressed

Salad Dressings

Jeff Keys

Photographs by Zac Williams

Well Dressed

Salad Dressings

Digital Edition 1.0

Text 2011 Jeff Keys

Photographs 2011 Zac Williams

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

Gibbs Smith

P.O. Box 667

Layton, Utah 84041

Orders: 1.800.835.4993

www.gibbs-smith.com

ISBN: 978-14236-1767-9

A hearty thank-you goes to Gibbs Smith for giving me the opportunity to create this book. Gibbs is an explorer of ideas to help create a better world and for that alone it is a privilege to know him. To Jennifer Adams, my editor, walking down the path to create a new book with you is always a pleasure. And to my family and crew at Vintage Restaurant, my deepest thanks for your unconditional support and for your tolerance of my long silences while working on the book.

Welcome to my world of salad dressings. Well Dressed: Salad Dressings is dedicated to taking you on a journey into the heart and soul of a great salad. And make no mistake, it is the dressing that gives a salad its soul.

The cycle of the seasons here in Sun Valley, Idaho, is a most fitting metaphor for my world of salad dressings. At Vintage Restaurant, I whisk up dressings year-round using seasonal ingredients, re-creating flavors from around the world. Dressings can transport you through every season and carry you to far-off places and cultures through their many diverse ingredients and surprising combinations of color, texture, flavor and temperature.

To flesh out the whole international culture idea, variety comes front and center. Oils and vinegars are the star players. Hearty and fruity extra virgin olive oil from Italy and France make the most classic vinaigrettes. Mellower and less expensive versions of olive oil that come from Spain and Greece work well also. Its really a matter of tasting a variety of olive oils to discover which ones you like the best. More common oils like canola, sunflower seed, and safflower work great also. And there is a new kid on the block: grapeseed oil. I love itmild and fruity in flavor, it is another ingredient of the highly respected Mediterranean diet.

Now for the vinegar. It brings a kind of life force, an electricity, to the vinaigrette. Get to know different vinegars by tasting them. Come to realize their power. Red wine, white wine, sherry, apple cider vinegar, rice, balsamiceach one has its own distinctive personality and character.

Salad dressings are so taken for granted. Given the dozens of commercial salad dressings available in every supermarket and grocery store, its so easy to simply open a bottled dressing without even thinking about it. In fact, I have a handful of favorites that I use in combination with other ingredients to give them a lift. But making your own salad dressing at home is the idea I want to put into your mind. It starts out so simply and easily: drizzle a little olive oil and a few drops of red wine vinegar over some super-fresh salad greens and vine-ripened sliced tomatoes, sprinkle some fresh snipped herbs in there too. Voila! A fresh and fabulous homemade salad dressing. It is so delicious and fast and fun! Plus, you control the ingredients, all healthy and fresh. I believe that is an important concepttaking control of what and how you eat. One element in taking control of your own life.

A great friend and early mentor in the food world, David Batterson, clued me in to this idea early in my food career. He had invited me to his house for dinner, the first time a great chef had ever done that for me. I was young, highly impressionable and a bit nervous. David was one of the great chefs in Aspen, Colorado, in the years before celebrity TV chefs. He had cooked at Aspens finest restaurant of the era, The Copper Kettle, and was the head chef of Aspens wildest restaurant, Andres. I worked under David at both restaurants and what a wild ride it was. I looked up to David because he was a smart, cagey and loving wild man who showed me the potential of living the good life with inspiration from music, literature and fascinating peoplesome of whom, like James Beard, Alan Ginsberg and Miles Davis, and Zorba the Greek became important mentors in my own life. That night at dinner, David started things off with a simple salad of leafy greens with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. It was simplicity magnified and was the best salad I had ever eaten! The explosion of flavors, the binding of the salad ingredients by the dressing created an experience Ill never forgetmy mouth waters just writing about it.

The chemistry of a good salad dressing hits the pleasure centers of your brain immediately. There is no waiting around for the effect. The acid elementvinegar or citrus juicelights the fuse. A lush vegetable oil carries the flavors of spice and herb or garlic directly to the sensory receptors of your mouth.

These days, salads have become much more than just a course in a larger meal. They often become the meal itself. A good salad and some warm bread make for good eating. Sometimes that is all you need. Better yet, combining the cool, crunchy ingredients of a salad with a warm ingredient like crispy roasted potatoes or slices of juicy roasted chicken or grilled steak makes for a healthy, satisfying meal. And what brings all of these elements together and makes them so appealing? Its the dressing. The dressing is the liaison that makes it all work. The ingredients in the dressing work like healthy stimulants, waking up our appetite for excitement and well-being.

The Chinese call the creative source in our body and spirit the hollow bamboo. It describes the infinite well of our creativity, and the ingredients in salad dressings give nourishment to that mystical reservoir. There is a reason old-time medicines included vinegars, olive oil, garlic, fresh herbs and honey as homespun remedies: these ingredients turn the immune system to the on position and kick out the evil spirits! Vinegars in ancient cultures were used for medicinal purposes to relieve ailing joints, to invigorate the immune system and to improve skin and hair quality. Honey was, and is, used to cleanse wounds as a natural antibiotic, to soothe digestive problems and to kick up energy. Garlic has long been thought of as a natural elixir to relieve intestinal problems, to prevent colds and sore throats and, who can forget, as a protection against vampires (just kidding). Then there are the endless healing and protective qualities of olive oil. Just sip a spoonful of good extra virgin olive oil and you can intuitively feel its power.

By combining these amazing ingredients to make a salad dressing, you create an alchemy of healthy eating, which, I believe, helps to create a confident approach to living.

My goal in Well Dressed is to inspire you to try these salad dressings at home and come to enjoy making them. I hope that you find a dressing or vinaigretteor manythat you really like and incorporate into your own cooking repertoire. I present these recipes and ideas to begin a fine collaboration in good eating. I wish you well in your discoveries and hope you enjoy the book and fall in love all over again with good taste and the freedom of discovery.