Somewhere in the vast universe of cooking videos, I watched Jacques Pepin create 3 vegetable salads. I was riveted as I always am when watching this great man cook. But here was the shocker: the third recipe he demonstrated in the video was a Cream Dressing that his mother used to make. While making the dressing, he states that 1 tablespoon of cream contains far fewer calories that 1 tablespoon olive oil. What???
Amazing numbers— 1 tablespoon heavy cream is 29 calories and 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil is 120 calories.
You too can enjoy this video which follows. You will notice that on other sites where Jacques has presented this dressing, the ingredients vary slightly and so does the method.
My lesson: I will not fear Heavy Cream, and as Julia Child repeated so often, “in moderation”.
Simple Salad: Three Different Ways | Jacques Pépin Foundation
Recipe: Salad With Cream Dressing ( as copied from NY Times)
- Yield Six servings
- Time 10 minutes
- 1 tablespoon good red-wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons heavy creamPreparation
- Remove and discard any damaged outer lettuce leaves and tear the lettuce into two-inch pieces. Wash in a sink full of cool water, lifting the lettuce from the water and placing it in a salad dryer. Dry thoroughly. You should have about eight cups of greens.
- For the dressing, place the vinegar, pepper, salt and cream in a salad bowl and mix together with a spoon, preferably wooden.
- At serving time, toss the greens with the dressing and serve immediately.
I’ll try it tomorrow. Sounds great.
In another version, he stirs the cream to be just a little fluffy; then adds either the good white or red vinegar.