Kellacious

I managed to clean the front room carpet today (plus the other living room, hallway upstairs and one child's room and our bathroom). So, a picture of that just wouldn't be exciting in my mind. I will digress a bit and tell you that I made the family suffer through my favorite summer time dinner: grilled chicken on an Asian salad finished with my current favorite oil-based dressing. It's 'Asian Salad Dressing and Marinade' from Teresa Burns Salad Dressings book published in 1997. I looked around the web tonight and can't find it for sale new (reasonably priced, that is), but I'm guessing this book from the same author probably has it. Here's the recipe to convince you that you need her book:

Asian Salad Dressing and Marinade

In this dressing, it is the combination of sesame oil, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and mirin that creates the characteristic Asian flavor. Mirin is a sweet rice wine. It is found in Japanese markets and many grocery stores.

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce*

*I usually don't put in the Tabasco sauce, but I substitute a squeeze of chili paste sauce called Sriracha (it has a rooster on it and I find it at my local Safeway easily)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl or jar and stir or shake to blend well.

Cover and chill the dressing until you are ready to use it. Let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before stirring or shaking again and serving.

This dressing will keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

My other fave from this book is the Creamy Winter Special salad dressing - yum!

So, apologies to all for not posting much of my redecorating, but I hope you enjoy this dressing recipe and get to use it sometime soon!

Kellacious