Dressings and dips

Soy and Sesame

This Asian-style dressing gives a wonderfully nutty and savoury flavour. Just combine 2tbsp soy, 2tbsp sesame oil, 2tbsp groundnut oil, juice  of 1 lime, ¼tsp of chilli flakes and 1tsp honey in a small bowl or cup  and stir together.

Ginger and Wasabi

Add some zing to your salad! To make, grate a thumb-sized piece of ginger into a small bowl. Stir in 2tsp wasabi paste, 6tbsp flavourless  oil and 1tbsp rice wine vinegar.

Tahini

The perfect accompaniment to a Middle Eastern style salad or drizzled over griddled halloumi. To make, stir together 2tbsp tahini with the juice  of 1 lemon, salt, pepper and 6tbsp of water in a small bowl.

Minty Yoghurt

A delicately light sauce with a cucumber crunch. To make, roughly chop 2-3tbsp of fresh mint and ¼ cucumber. Combine into a bowl with 150g natural yoghurt, 1tbsp white wine vinegar, zest of ½ lemon then season with salt and pepper. Use the remaining cucumber in a fresh green side salad.

Sweet Chilli

This dressing gives a slight kick and also works as a dipping sauce or a sweet marinade. To make, mix together 2tbsp sweet chilli sauce with  the zest of 2 limes and 6tbsp of rice wine vinegar in a small bowl.

A note on leftover citrus fruits….

To save the juice, squeeze into ice-cube tray compartments and freeze. One ice-cube is equal to about two teaspoons of lemon juice.  Two ice-cubes are roughly half a lemon.

To save the zest, grate into an ice-cube tray with a few drops of juice added and freeze. Next time you need zest, pop out a cube.

Alternatively, cut into thin slices, place in an air tight reusable container  in a single layer and freeze. You can add additional layers of slices –  just make sure you add a layer of grease proof paper between each layer  of citrus slices. Ideal for adding to water, tea or something stronger!

You can freeze whole citrus fruit but they will lose their structure when defrosted. It’s perfectly fine for squeezing juice from but you lose the  ability to zest it or cut into slices.