Homemade Salad Cream

I love salad cream.  Just don’t get mayonnaise – it’s bland and oily and just….well, meh…

There’s nothing like a big dollop of salad cream with a hard boiled egg and a bit of lettuce on a summer evening.  And potato salad just doesn’t cut it with mayo – that tangy, slightly lemony, slightly sweet, smooth taste of salad cream is what’s called for, over warm, Jersey Royals, with a few chopped spring onions and a handful of capers.  And tuna and rice salad, with tuna, red onion, boiled rice, sweetcorn, a generous pinch or three of cayenne pepper and then mix it all together with plenty of, you’ve guessed it, salad cream….oh, heaven.  I feel a couple more recipes coming on!

For some time, I’ve been buying the 2 Chicks egg whites in a carton when I do my food order but this last time, I managed to get it wrong and order a carton of their whole eggs instead.  I used some of them for scrambled eggs for breakfast and some in Yorkshire pudding batter but that still left me with quite a bit left over so I decided to have a go at something I’ve been meaning to make for some time – homemade salad cream.  It was worth it – it’s even better than the stuff from Heinz.  And I really like the stuff from Heinz.

The oil I have used here was the common or garden type – not the posh, extra virgin type.  This made quite a large batch as I am planning on making a large potato salad and the tuna, rice salad mentioned above for a buffet.  It will keep in the fridge for about 10 days but I reckon it would probably be best to use 2 small eggs and half the quantities of everything else for most people unless you get through a lot of salad cream…..and there’s nothing wrong with that if you do!

Since writing this post, I’ve also mixed a few tablespoons of this with some creme fraiche and warmed it through in a bain marie to use with eggs benedict – it was really lovely and much less hassle than whipping up a batch of hollandaise.  It’s also lovely mixed with some Greek yoghurt and topped with a little sweet chilly sauce as a dip for toasted pitta bread.  Also a great base for tartar sauce.

And last but not least in the list of what to do with salad cream – it’s as cheap as chips and goes really well with them too, much nicer than mayo.

Ingredients:

3 large whole eggs, beaten (or the equivalent from a tub of already beaten up ones like I had)

1 generous teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

Juice and zest of one lemon

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon caster sugar

150ml olive oil

150ml rapeseed oil

Method:

1.  In a food processor, whizz together all the ingredients except the oil, until it is light and creamy and has roughly doubled in volume.

2.  Gradually add the oil, very slowly through the feeder funnel, whilst the processor continues to whisk, it will take about five minutes to get all the oil added and for the salad cream to come together and emulsify.

3.  Poor into a sterilised jar or bottle and refrigerate.