Recipe: Classic Lemon Dressing - Citronette

Ingredients

• 2 large lemons
• olive oil
• Dijon mustard
• cayenne
• salt

Instructions

Step 1

Hi, I'm Chef John Mitzewich for About.com Food, and today I'm going to show you how to make a citronette dressing. What is a citronette? It's basically a vinaigrette, but made with citrus juice. So please don't call it a lemon vinaigrette, because that's not what it is!

Step 2

Citronette Ingredients
There's my 2 large lemons, olive oil, Dijon mustard, cayenne for some heat, salt which is incredibly important in dressings.

Step 3

Squeeze the Lemons
Now were going to squeeze these lemons, I'm expecting to get a 1/2 cup of juice. You usually get about a 1/4 cup of juice per lemon. Let's measure this and, yes we have exactly 1/2 cup of juice.

Step 4

Mix the Citronette Ingredients
Now I know how much oil to measure, which is going to be 3/4 cup of a light olive oil. And we're ready to start our citronette. This is like my favorite all-purpose light summer dressing, its good with everything. In the bowl we put the mustard, the lemon juice, a pinch of cayenne, some people use black pepper, but I don't like the black specks, and a pinch of salt to wake things up.

Step 5

Shake the Citronette
Were going to give that a stir with our whisk. We are NOT going to whisk in the oil as tradition would have us. I have a secret weapon... the shaker bottle. We pour in our lemon mixture and top with the oil. The ratio is 1 part lemon juice to 1 1/2 parts oil.

Now instead of whisking we are going to shake vigorously for one minute. This will emulsify it. What does emulsify it mean? It means a vinegar and/or lemon juice is suspended into the oil. See the spoon, how everything is together.

Step 6

Storing and Serving the Citronette
The other great thing about using the bottle to make the citronette, is when you are done you can put a piece of plastic wrap over the top and screw on the top and put it away.

I served it with some asparagus and tomatoes. It was delicious, unbelievable, and so fresh. I hope you give this a try! It is a great, great dressing.