A vinaigrette riff – kind of regular ingredients – but with smoked paprika for flavor.
Smoked paprika may be an acquired taste. And really, until about 15 years ago I’d never even heard of it. Then it began showing up in food magazines, and cooking classes, and visiting Hungary, I enjoyed it in several things. I bought some in Hungary, and on a subsequent trip I bought the sweet, half-sharp (half sweet and half hot) and smoked. In fact I still have a vacuum sealed bag of sweet in my pantry. It’s about 5 years old (never opened) – I hope it’s still good. But I’m now out of smoked, so will have to find a local source, probably Penzey’s.
Awhile back, because I subscribe to a free book website called BookBub, they sent the daily missive with their list of special-priced e-books at Amazon. In the mix that day was a book called Modern Sauces: More than 150 Recipes for Every Cook, Every Day
If you really asked me, though, I’d tell you that I don’t much like looking at e-cookbooks. It’s not my favorite thing to go find my iPad stand so I can prop it up on my kitchen counter to read and prepare a recipe. I suppose that makes me old-school in this regard. But I did order this one, because I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have ordered the hard copy (for a whole lot more money, of course). So I did read it – in bed at night, over 2-4 evenings. And I liked the sound of a bunch of recipes in it. This is one of them. I brought my Kindle downstairs to my kitchen and flipped through all the recipes after I’d read the whole book, and I copied the recipes I liked into MasterCook. And here we are.
Lately I’ve been eating a lot of salads. In that salad above I’ve got a mix of all kinds of veggies, plus a few sliced almonds and bocconcini, the little fresh mozzarella balls.
I’m on a diet. Probably one of these days I’ll write a post about it, but for now, I’m sticking to this new diet that has been very easy for me. In the mornings, I eat my regular yogurt bowl (unsweetened, Fage, plain) with a few berries, walnuts or almonds, a scoop of whey protein powder, a squirt of concentrated liquid turmeric, a drop of vitamin D & K, a tablespoon of ground flaxseed, and now SAM-e). That’s breakfast. Mid-morning I have a handful of nuts. Lunch is usually a bowl of soup – mostly vegetables in chicken/mushroom broth with either ground turkey or chicken, or even lean grass-fed beef. The soup is loaded with all kinds of non-carb vegetables. It’s satisfying and filling. I’ve made 2 big batches of this type of soup recently. Then another handful of nuts in the mid-afternoon, and a 6-ounce “shake” mixture of prebiotics mixed with unsweetened almond milk (which I’ve found I actually like!), and sometime during the day I also have a square or two of intense chocolate (dark, 80% or higher). That’s allowed.
Dinner is usually a salad with plenty of good veggies, some kind of protein (chicken, tuna, or even some lean pork) and a good olive-oil based dressing. And eggs are fine. What’s OUT of my diet is any sugar. Period. (He does say stevia – I use Truvia – is fine in small amounts.) No desserts, and fruit (except berries, although there are a few other fruits you can eat in very small quantities). And it’s working. That’s what I’ll tell you. I’m not eating any complex carbs at all – no bread of any kind, no flour, of course, no beans, no grains, no starchy vegetables (including peas and corn, of course). And no dairy except yogurt and a dib-dab of butter if it’s essential to cooking something. He also allows small portions of cheeses. Do I miss all those things? Sometimes. But it’s not because of hunger. I’m positively amazed that I’m not hungry in between meals, but I’m not. The handful of nuts satisfy any in-between hunger. I can have canned soybeans or edamame beans, so I plan to pick up some of the latter at TJ’s this week. They’d be good added to a soup – for texture. I can have red wine or an ounce of liquor if I want. In moderation of course. There’s a whole lot more complexities to the diet, but that’s it in a nutshell. It’s a diet proscribed by Dr. Stephen Gundry (a heart surgeon). He’s the one who wrote The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain
But because I’m now eating a salad at least once a day, I’m wanting more variety in dressings. There are a whole slew of oils you can have on this diet, but EVOO is the fav. No cream dressings at all, no sour cream or cream anything (except yogurt, I suppose). I’m fine with salads, as long as I can vary them with different proteins, veggie options and a different dressing every few days. Thank goodness! Hence this new dressing came into rotation.
The author of the Modern Sauces book mentioned that of all the salad dressings she makes (she considers a salad dressing a sauce) this one is her favorite. When an author or writer says that about any food, I’m all in. I made a half of a batch of this to try it out. It’s gone already, so I’ll likely make it again soon. You may see more salad dressings here in coming months. And more veggies, I suppose, in one form or another. Probably not any desserts, though, unless they’re mainly fresh berries! And I’ll still be preparing a protein entrée, so you’ll see some of those recipes. I went to a cooking class (actually 2) recently and I’ll be writing up all those recipes. I took a teeny-tiny taste of each item so I could decide if it was blog-worthy. All of them were.
What’s GOOD: loved the smoked paprika scent/taste in this. Different. Good, for sure.
What’s NOT: nothing at all.
printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook 15/16 (click link to open recipe)
* Exported from MasterCook *
Fresh Orange-Smoked Paprika Vinaigrette
Recipe By: from Modern Sauces, 2017
Serving Size: 4-8
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/2 teaspoon orange zest — lightly packed, finely grated
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar — or substitute Truvia or stevia
2 drops sriracha sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup EVOO
1. In a small bowl whisk together the orange juice, orange zest, vinegar, paprika, sugar [or sweetener], Sriracha and salt, until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Gradually whisk in oil a little at a time, until the dressing is creamy and blended.
2. Taste and adjust the flavor balance and seasoning. Whisk again to blend just before using. Will keep for a week.
Per Serving: 124 Calories; 14g Fat (95.7% calories from fat); trace Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 67mg Sodium.
Marlene
said on May 26th, 2018:
Trader Joe’s has great smoked paprika, Carolyn. I love it, too!
OH! They do? I’ve never looked. Thanks, Marlene. . . carolyn t
Toffeeapple
said on May 27th, 2018:
I like the sound of that though I would use honey rather than sugar. Enjoy your diet!
Of course you could use honey instead. Just not much! . . . carolyn t
hddonna
said on May 30th, 2018:
Sounds yummy. I’ll give it a try! Am trying to eat more salads, too, and a new dressing is always welcome!
Since I’m eating a big salad for one meal every day, I dug around in my refrigerator and found 3 jars of some kinds of home made dressings, but they were all over a month old. I tossed them all. The last 2 days I’ve been just mixing a tiny bit of fig balsamic vinegar with avocado oil and that’s been it. I like it. My two favorite dressings are “out” for the time being because they contain a goodly portion of blue cheese. I can have a little on this new diet, but not that much, and I’d rather have some goat cheese sprinkles in my salad instead. . . carolyn t