- 3. 2020
CILANTRO LIME DRESSING
Gluten and Lactose-Free
Makes about ¾ cup
I had seen a recipe for a cilantro dressing that looked interesting and made it. I was not happy with the result. So, I decided to riff off the recipe and was amazed how wonderful my riff of this dressing had turned out.
I am one of those people who hated cilantro and only used a tiny amount of cilantro or none. Mostly I use parsley instead. But recently I realized that the cilantro of today is way less pungent than what was available in the 80’s. I did not realize that Peter liked cilantro since I don’t use this herb much.
Well, he liked this dressing so much his breakfast order was, “l would like a couple of hard-boiled eggs, a salad and the new dressing over everything! it really is great”. Flavor-wise I find it is the opposite of the Peruvian green sauce you get at the Pio-Pio restaurants, here in New York City. The Peruvian sauce is savory, the Cilantro Lime dressing is sweet with a little heat. Both are equally delicious. I have a recipe for a ‘mock’ Peruvian sauce, and one of these days will post it.
I will always have this dressing in my refrigerator. It is now a staple! It is a great sauce for a “No Recipe, Recipe” for; chicken, rice, noodles, steamed or raw vegetables, as a dressing for a salad, a marinade for chicken or shrimp. I have not tried it on beef or pork, so can't comment on that.
I used a recycled glass dressing bottle to store my dressing. The dressing will need to be shaken before using it as it will settle.
Here is my “No Recipe, Recipe” for another chicken dish:
Last night I made chicken tenders. Mix ½ t of baking soda with 1 t of water and sprinkled all over the tenders and toss it to make sure all the chicken was coated with this mix. Mix kosher salt, ground pepper, about ¼ c of the cilantro lime dressing, some olive oil and 2 t of agave in a small bowl, pour it all over the chicken and toss to coat, then leave in the refrigerator to marinade. Marinade for 30 minutes or 24 hours. Make a skillet hot with a little olive oil, then stir fry the chicken for 4 to 5 minutes. When done remove the tenders into a bowl and cover with a piece of foil. Pour about 10 oz. of frozen green beans into the skillet with its browned bits and toss the beans to cover them with the oil in the skillet while scraping up the browned bits. Cover the skillet and let the beans steam cook. Bake a couple of potatoes in the microwave to go with the meal. All done. No recipe, just pantry staples.
Cilantro – 3 ½ c packed leaves, stems and roots if you have them
Garlic – 2 T roughly chopped
Lime zest - 1 t
Lime juice – ½ c, don’t strain out the pulp*
Agave – ¼ c (option, honey, maple, Splenda, stevia, whatever sweetener you like)
Coriander – ground, 1 t
Kosher Salt – 1 t
Light Olive oil – ½ c (option, any flavorless oil)
Jalapeño pepper – 1 t finely sliced, seedless, pith less, add more if you want a bite to your dressing
To make the dressing “creamy” think of adding:
Coconut cream – ¼ to ½ c (optional, cream, milk, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese)
Let's make dressing:
I made this dressing in my Nutra Bullet. You can use your blender, immersion blender, food processer, even a mortar and pestle.
Measure everything right into the Nutra Bullet’s larger cup and whirr till the dressing is totally pureed. Pour the dressing into a glass jar, label and date it. I think it will be good for at least 10 days in the refrigerator.
*whenever I juice a lemon or lime, first I wash it well and dry it thoroughly.
Zest it using a micro plane, saving the zest in a container in the freezer.
Cut the lemon or lime in two, place in a bowl and microwave for 15 minutes.
Juice it with a reamer, use what I need, refrigerate the rest.
Enjoy!