Poppy Seed Dressing

When I was in Colorado recently I was cruising through my Mom's book of recipes when I came upon this one and was reminded this was Christopher's favorite dressing when he was in his early teens. Then fear of raw eggs came along and I stopped making it. Recipe is from (the original) The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins.

Combine:

1 egg [I would now omit or use pasteurized egg]*
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon prepared Dijon-style mustard
2/3 cup red wine vinegar [I usually used tarragon vinegar]
3 tablespoons grated fresh yellow onion plus any juice from the grating [I just threw a few chunks of a sweet onion in the food processor]

in bowl of food processor with steel blade, process 1 minute. With motor running pour in:

2 cups corn oil  [I used canola oil, would now use olive oil] in a slow steady stream

Stir in:

3 T poppy seeds

Refrigerate until ready to use.

[I served with Caesar salad type greens and croutons.]

Recipe suggests serving with spinach, purple onion, sliced hard-cooked egg, crumbled bacon and homemade croutons sauteed in butter and garlic.


* January 2013:  Reading Harold McGee's Keys to Good Cooking I came across this (page 298):

    " To eliminate the very slight risk of salmonella contamination from raw egg yolk, use pasteurized eggs, or pasteurize the yolk yourself.  Combine 1 yolk in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon/15 milliliters each of lemon juice and water, and microwave the mix on high power until it heaves close to the boil.  Remove the bowl, stir briskly with a clean fork, and repeat the heating.  Remove and stir again with a clean fork until lukewarm  Then start whisking in oil to make the sauce."  Be sure to use a clean fork/whisk each time. While McGee suggests this for making mayonnaise, it could also be done for Poppy Seed Dressing.  Full disclosure: I have not tried this yet but look forward to making this salad dressing with a pasteurized egg in the near future.

On page 214, McGee notes, " Pasturized eggs are available in the shell, in liquid form, and dried. These products eliminate worries about samonella-infected eggs, but don't do quite as good a job as raw eggs at foaming or emulsifying sauces. They can have a pronounced cooked flavor."

Reviewed 6/19/2017