Smoked Salmon Salad with Lemon Pepper Dressing

I’m living for weird and different salads this summer. Another thing I’m living for? Making my own salad dressings.

So, I may have flubbed it a bit on the homemade caesar dressing, but lessons learned. Now, I’m a salad dressing making machine. Just call me the Dressing Wizard.

My preferred dressing of choice is a simple vinaigrette. I go by a 2 to 1 rule when it comes to that: oil is double the amount of vinegar. Vinegar gives you the taste, but oil is the method of which that dressing properly coats whatever salad greens you use. I usually use 1/3 of a cup of olive oil for my dressings, and then a few tablespoons of an assortment of vinegars: red wine, rice, balsamic, and just plain ol’ white. Okay, so maybe it isn’t exactly a 2-to-1 ratio (I’m not great at math), but always make sure you have more oil to vinegar.

Smoked salmon has been a permanent staple in my fridge lately. I’ve eaten it straight out of the package (my preferred method), but have never used it in salads…until now.

I opted for a simple bed of spinach and nothing else other than cucumbers. I bet this salad would be good with sliced red onion and capers–like you would get on a lox bagel—but I wanted the salmon and dressing to be the stars of this show.

The dressing is also simple, yet tasteful. Olive oil, lemon juice, white wine, salt and pepper. That’s all you need. You get that lemony punch that always tastes incredible with fish. Your best bet is to keep it separate from the salad as long as possible, so your spinach doesn’t get soggy. Nobody likes soggy greens.

If you can find a good quality smoked salmon, buy it! It’s worth the extra change. I like the Lasco brand I’ve been buying at my grocery store. It’s salty and smokey in all the right places. Sometimes smoked salmon can be overpowering with the salt, but this brand isn’t like that. If your salmon is too salty, curb the salt in the dressing and it will work perfectly.

Enjoy!