I know that putting dressing on a salad sounds like a pretty simple thing, and you’re right it is. But there are a few steps you can follow to make that salad just right.

For a basic lemon and olive oil dressing.

1. Choose a large bowl with plenty of extra space for mixing. This will allow you to mix thoroughly without crushing anything. Place it in the fridge for a few minutes to chill it down so your greens will stay nice and cold during preparation.
2. Add your greens to the bowl and season with salt and freshly ground pepper first. This will help round out the seasoning of the entire salad. You can even add a clove of garlic slightly crushed with your hand to help perfume the greens.
3. Evenly drizzle over your freshly squeezed lemon juice next. Some salads like a potato salad with vinaigrette are best served at room temp but If you’re making a cold salad put your lemon in the refrigerator. You can use a fork to juice a lemon. Click HERE to see how.
4. Mix your greens, salt, pepper and lemon juice together first. Salt doesn’t dissolve in pure fat like olive oil so mixing the lemon juice with salt before you add the oil will help dissolve it and evenly coat the salad.
5. Add the olive oil last. It’s okay to add a few drop of the olive to the top of the salad but most of it should be drizzled around the inside of the bowl, above the greens and allowed to run down. Olive oil, especially cold olive oil can get very thick and difficult to distribute throughout your salad. As you gently mix the salad pick up some of the oil from the side of the bowl and work it into the remaining ingredients picking up more oil as necessary. Your salad will be more evenly dressed using this method and you won’t have the problem of certain parts being overdressed.

That’s it. You’re done, enjoy!