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Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette Recipe

Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette is a tart-bright dressing perfect for salads, drizzling on wraps and more. This is best made in a mortar and pestle but can be made in a food processor as well.

Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette is shown in a glass bottle on a wooden table.

When I served our salad last night, I was a little apprehensive.

My husband Shawn isn’t a big fan of lemon so I wasn’t sure he’d even try this lemon rosemary salad dressing. He tentatively drizzled it on a single piece of lettuce. Success! He then dressed his whole salad with it.

“Rosemary is really the star,” he remarked … and it is.

This Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette recipe is for rosemary lovers.

My whole family adores rosemary. The woody herb, with its pine-like needles, grows outside our front door in a planter in the summertime.

I love being able to send the kids out for a fresh, just-picked snippet. It was only natural that when I wanted to make a new dressing the other day, I would turn to rosemary.

Lemon and rosemary are a natural fit for each other, making a tart-bright dressing that holds its own against sharp ingredients.

Consider serving this lemon rosemary salad dressing on a salad with a sprinkle of freshly grated sharp provolone. This would also be fab with feta, Kalamata olives and cucumbers on a bed of romaine, like a Greek salad.

Seasonings for Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette Recipe are shown in a mortar pestle.

Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette is a dressing I make by hand in my mortar and pestle. However, if you don’t have one, this can be made in a small or mini food processor. To do so, process the garlic, rosemary and salt together well before adding the lemon juice and oil and processing some more.

Also, one more note: You may also want to pre-mince the rosemary, if you do it that way, to ensure that it gets sufficiently broken down.

Do you make your own salad dressing? What’s your favorite blend?

Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette Recipe

Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette Recipe

Yield: 1 /2 cup
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

Lemon Rosemary Vinaigrette is a tart-bright dressing perfect for salads, drizzling on wraps and more.

Ingredients

  • 1 clove garlic, peeled
  • 2 sprigs rosemary, stems removed
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

  1. Add garlic, rosemary and sea salt to the bowl of the mortar. Use the pestle to mash to a paste.
  2. Add the lemon juice in a fine drizzle, stirring and mashing during the addition. Add the olive oil, stirring and mashing during the addition.
  3. Transfer to an airtight container and use within a few days

Notes

- This yields enough to dress four salads with 2 tbsp dressing each. - Instead of discarding the lemon peel, freeze it for future use (it can be zested from frozen!) - Mash the rosemary well, so that it breaks down into fine pieces.

Angela

Saturday 13th of February 2016

This is an excellent recipe, we also added a tablespoon or so of tahini and it is remarkable! Thank you!

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Maria

Wednesday 28th of April 2010

You can't go wrong with lemon and rosemary. Great salad dressing! .-= Maria´s last blog ..2peas3-0 =-.

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