This cilantro lime dressing was on the Smitten Kitchen site as part of a salad that looked good but had corn in it, which is hard (and expensive) to find here in France. Cilantro and lime are winners for me, so I gave it a shot. Makes about ¾ cup:
Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing
- 1 2-ounce bundle cilantro, leaves and stems
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and roughly chopped (more or less to taste)
- Finely grated zest and juice of 2 medium/large limes
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Chop cilantro leaves and stems roughly into 1-2” segments and toss into the bowl of a blender or food processor. Add scallions, garlic, jalapeño, and lime zest and pulse the machine to chop the ingredients as well as possible. With the machine running, stream in olive oil, scraping down the sides as needed, and blend the dressing until the greens are fully pureed. Add salt and squeeze the juice from both limes in, and blend again. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Serve over your favorite salad greens and enjoy!
My verdict:
The dressing was really tasty, but it overwhelmed the salad greens. I tried to make a salad with ingredients that would work well with the cilantro—avocado, tomatoes, scallions. Maybe the jalapeño I used (but only used ½ of) was too spicy? But it could be a great salsa replacement for quesadillas or tacos, or even a sauce for some sautéed shrimp. Or, you could take the dressing in an Asian direction with rice vinegar, ginger and maybe some chili crisp in place of the jalapeño. Hmmm…
I started it in the mini chopper bowl of my immersion blender, but that wasn’t working, so switched to the tall canister that I use for mayo and Caesar dressing and that was much better.
