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Spring and summer call for crisp, bountiful salads filled with loads of organic veggies and protein. And nothing compares to a homemade salad dressing, especially when you add fresh herbs from your garden or from our produce section at Famous Foods. Here are a few recipes for inspiring your homemade dressing endeavours.

Basic Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of white, cider, or wine vinegar

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a bowl or tightly lidded container. Whisk or shake well.

Let mixture stand for about 10 minutes. Shake once more and apply to your salad or veggies.

This basic vinaigrette dressing is a great all-around topping for salads and vegetables. Based on this simple recipe, you can create your own unique take on this delicious and easy salad dressing. Directions are the same, only the ingredients will change.

Creamy Garlic Dressing

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of white, cider, or wine vinegar

1 garlic clove put through press

3 tablespoons sour cream OR plain yogurt

1 pinch of Italian seasoning

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Parmesan Pepper Vinaigrette Dressing

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of white, cider, or wine vinegar

3 tablespoons sour cream OR plain yogurt

1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Lemon Dressing

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of oregano

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

Bacon Vinaigrette Dressing

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of white, cider, or wine vinegar

1 tablespoon crumbled bacon

1/2 tablespoon finely minced onion

1 pinch celery seed

1/4 teaspoon prepared mustard

2 teaspoons brown sugar (add to taste)

salt

freshly ground black pepper

All recipes can be adapted to taste. The beauty of making vinaigrette recipes at home is that you can prepare them as needed (so they won’t be sitting in the fridge for weeks). However, these recipes will last a week or two in the fridge, so you can easily have some on hand whenever you want it with only a few minutes of prep time.

Entertaining can be a ton of fun, but in the summertime it’s nice to keep preparations to a minimum, so you can relax and enjoy your time with your guests. Enter the cheese board. A favourite at any time of year, a cheese board is perfect for the summer months because it is low-maintenance and the cheeses pair well with picnic-friendly eats such as baguettes and summer fruits. You may think that creating a quality cheese board that will wow your guests has to be tough and expensive. The truth is, a cheese board can be one of the easiest and most affordable dishes you can offer guests and it works in almost any setting.

Finding the Right Board

At its most basic, a cheese board is just that—a board to place cheese and other items on. With this in mind, you don’t have to run out and buy something fancy or expensive. Often times a nice wooden cutting or servicing board will work. If you are planning an event with a specific theme, look around for a board that better fits your theme.

Say Cheese

Hit up your local “fromagerie” as they say in France or local grocer to stock up on a variety of cheeses at their deli counter. Be sure to include a variety of textures, flavours and colours including aged, soft, firm and blue.

Examples of aged include: Comte, aged cheddar or goat Gouda
Examples of soft include: Camembert, St. Andre and Brillat-Savarin
Examples of hard include: Parmigiano-Reggiano and Manchego
Examples of blue include: Gorgonzola and French Roquefort.

You can choose to pre-slice the cheese, or include a few cheese knives along with your spread.

Finishing Touches

After you have your cheeses chosen, you can start grabbing things like crackers and sliced organic veggies to add to your cheese board. There are a few categories that are generally touched on when choosing accompanying foods, but again, there are no hard rules to this. Think about finding things that are salty, crunchy, and sweet to work with the flavours of your cheeses.

Famous Foods has everything you need for your summer entertaining needs. Visit our deli section to discover the beautiful array of cheeses we have in store.