Honey Mustard Dressing
Most bottled honey mustard dressings contain very little of either. This takes two minutes, keeps for a fortnight and turns a bag of leaves into something worth eating.
It's also the most useful thing you can make with a jar of honey, because once it's in the fridge you'll find a use for it most days.
Ingredients
Makes about 250ml
2 tbsp Coastal honey
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
120ml extra virgin olive oil
1 small garlic clove, finely grated
Salt and cracked pepper
Method
Put the honey, both mustards, vinegar and garlic in a jar. Not the oil yet.
Seal the jar and shake hard for twenty seconds until the honey has fully dissolved into the vinegar. This is the step that matters. Honey will not emulsify into oil, but it dissolves into vinegar without any trouble, and once it has, the dressing holds together.
Now add the oil, season, and shake again for another twenty seconds. It should go thick, pale and glossy.
Taste it. More honey if the mustard is too sharp, more vinegar if it's too rich.
That's the whole thing. If it separates in the fridge, shake it again.
Why the order matters
Most recipes tell you to whisk everything together at once, which is why most homemade dressings split within an hour.
Mustard is the emulsifier here, and it works best when it's already dispersed in the vinegar before the oil arrives. Getting the honey dissolved at the same stage means it never has to fight the oil. Do it in that order and the dressing stays combined for days rather than minutes.
What to use it on
Poured over a green salad with apple and walnuts
As a dressing for a warm potato salad, while the potatoes are still hot
Spooned over roast chicken or pork
On a chicken schnitzel sandwich, which is arguably its best use
Tossed through shredded cabbage and carrot for a quick slaw
As a dip for hot chips
Which honey
Coastal is the one here. It's mild and floral, and in a dressing you want the honey to balance the mustard rather than compete with it. It's also the sensible choice for something you'll make regularly.
Redgum is worth trying if you'd like more depth, and its faint smokiness works particularly well in a slaw or with pork.
This is a rare case where an everyday honey is genuinely the better choice, not just the more sensible one. A TA35+ in a mustard dressing is money spent on something you won't taste.
Keeping it
Two weeks in the fridge in a sealed jar. The olive oil will solidify when cold, so take it out ten minutes before you need it and give it a shake.
Make it a marinade
Add another tablespoon of honey and a splash more vinegar, and it works as a marinade for chicken thighs or pork. Half an hour is enough, and remember the usual rule: cook it at a moderate heat, because honey in a marinade will catch before the meat is done.