What do salad dressings & glaze formulas have in common? Barry’s Creamy Lemony Vinaigrette

     Barry was known as the “sauce man” at the Kirby House Restaurant. Although he was not formally trained in the culinary arts, he has the ability to create wonderful sauces  (and other foods, too) . . . without a recipe.

     He does have a BS degree in art education and taught art in the public schools for 28 years. It seems that his creativity is also apparent in the kitchen as he can often just taste a dish and then work out the ingredient combinations. I remember eating a wonderful pasta dish in Emeril’s restaurant in New Orleans. We were there with Vangie and Steve Henry and we all urged him to re-create it once we returned to Abilene. He did. It was on the menu at the Kirby House for quite a while

     Actually Barry likens making sauces to mixing up glaze formulas for pottery. And, now it seems his skill has transcended to salad dressings. Using some fancy olive oil and balsamic vinegar from The Tasteful Olive in Overland Park, Ks., he produced a creamy, lemony dressing that is great over chef or side salads. He did admit that initially he wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out but . . . we were both pleased with the results so I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and jotted down the ingredient list.

     TRUE CONFESSION: Barry and I both grew up in a very small town in an era when the only locally available brand of olive oil was WORSE than awful! Consequently we avoided the stuff like it was the plague for years. However, once we tried the really good stuff we were sold.  And, a trip to The Tasteful Olive is now a real treat. The last time we were there and sampling the wares, Barry said, “Twenty years ago I never imagined I would be anywhere standing around sampling olive oil and vinegar!”

     By the way, if you don’t have the lemon flavored oil and vinegar, just increase the lemon pepper . . . it won’t be the same but still should be good.

We put the salad dressing
in a squeeze bottle so it is
easy to apply. 

Barry’s Creamy Lemony Vinaigrette

Mayonnaise is added to the basic vinaigrette ingredients to create an easy-to-mix creamy dressing that doesn’t separate.

1/3 cup Lemon EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

¼ cup Lemon Balsamic Vinegar (this is light in color & will not darken the dressing)

1 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Pinch of kosher and coarsely ground black pepper

1 teaspoon lemon pepper

1.     Combine all ingredients and whisk until thoroughly mixed.

2.     Store in refrigerator.

Another Idea — I added a little
more mayo to thicken the dressing
and turned it into a veggie dip.