I'm a big fan of creamy salad dressing. And this dressing started when I started spooning vegan pesto into ranch dressing. I switched to a cashew base with great results. It's much easier to control the thickness, compared to ranch dressing and a little oil gives it a smooth creamy feel. Finally, I added lemon juice and deconstructed the pesto. All this testing meant I ate the same salad dressing for nearly a month straight, and I still haven't tired of it.
Creamy Lemon Pesto Dressing
2/3 cups cashews, ground
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tbs olive oil
3 tbs vegenaise
1/2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp miso
1 clove garlic
1 cup basil
1/4 cup parsley
Roughly chop the basil and parsley and toss together. Reserve half of the herbs and set aside. Add the other half, along with all the other ingredients to a blender and blend thoroughly for several minutes. The dressing should be very creamy when done. Finely mince the reserved parsley and basil and add to the blender. Pulse, just to combine, then pour into a container and chill. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
12 Servings: 82 cal (7g fat, 4g carbs, 2g protein)
Bun Cha
3 days ago
Oh my lord this sounds so tasty! Do you think it would work pureeing using a stick blender? I've never tried to grind nuts with my Bamix before, and I own neither a regular blender nor food processor. Ideas?
I think the cashews would definitely need to be ground before you tried a stick blender, but I think you'd have a good shot otherwise. Another option might be to use 1/3-1/2 cup of cashew butter instead of the cashew nuts.
Catherine - I only have a stick blender and I always blitz my cashews with it. You will need a knife to dislodge all the bits of cashews from around the blade but everything's cool when you start adding liquids to it and seeing as this recipe calls for everything being blitzed all together - a stick blender will work fine.
Matt - This sounds sooo tasty - you have me craving salad now!
This looks delicious! I am going to whip it up and have a salad for lunch now.
I always enjoy reading your posts and drooling over your many creations!