The garden is producing joy aplenty and so it’s time of to make salads and other delicious dishes. This recipe incorporates the wonder greens we are harvesting as well as the zest and juice of our Meyer lemons to make a creamy Meyer lemon vinaigrette salad.

citrus lemon salad dressing recipe by WhiteOnRiceCouple.com

Creamy Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette Recipe

We know, we know. Many of you are still freezing while we’re basking in Southern California’s warm embrace. It’s a catch-22 situation with this post because we get e-mails requesting more updates on the garden, but if we do, we certainly don’t wan’t to be rubbing today’s 78°F sunshine in anyone’s blog face. But we will talk about this yummy Meyer lemon vinaigrette recipe.

As we mentioned, folks are asking us to write about our garden updates more, what we’re currently growing and how the pesky possums’s are treating us (you, smart asses!). We’ve been cautious to gloat about our freakishly warm “Winter”, but since we’ve made weather peace with all of you, here’s the update: The garden is going friggin crazy and so it’s time to make this meyer lemon vinaigrette recipe.

Victory gardening = lettuce + lemons = dinner!

citrus lemon salad dressing recipe by WhiteOnRiceCouple.com

Our Victory Garden

To find out more about Victory Gardens, visit Revive the Victory Garden, Red White & Grew,   San Francisco’s Victory Garden, or google “Victory Gardens” to find a plethora of information at your fingertips.

So, what is in our Victory Garden this month? Our four varieties of radishes are popping up like weeds and they’ve become such uncontrollable green critters that we’ll have to eat the radish tops in a salad soon before they fight each other for space. The beets, onions, spinach, tatsoi, mustard greens, soybeans, kohlrabi, broccoli and cauliflower seedlings were all sunbathing in the warm sun today. The leeks have barely poked out to say “hello”, but in a few weeks, they’ll be screaming out for more attention.

Mixed Garden Greens

The biggest attention stealers today were all the baby, mixed green lettuce and meyer lemons. This is the time of year that we drown in tender lettuce and beautiful citrus. With 13 citrus trees in the garden, this is the time of year that we, literally, Zest To Death! Although not all the citrus trees are bearing fruit now, what we do have on the trees is enough to eat and perfume our house with. It was only appropriate to have our first big garden salad of mixed greens, tossed in a creamy meyer lemon vinaigrette. The simple blend of fresh meyer lemon juice, some olive oil and touch of other seasons just can’t be beat. The bright, aromatic flavors of fresh lemon juice on soft lettuce leaves, crispy stems and some added crunch from nuts was what we call, a Victory dinner.

What a well deserved dinner this was, especially for Todd. He spent 4 hours trimming half of our 32 ficus hedges, to be saved for mulch throughout the year. A round of applause for the mulch man, Todd! He’s my pruning hero.

Meyer lemon vinaigrette recipe

Salad with Creamy Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette

Use whatever greens you love for this salad. Green leaf, romaine, arugula, iceburg, etc.
5 from 8 votes

Ingredients

  • 1 head lettuce
  • walnuts, almonds or pecans (optional)

Dressing Ingredients

  • Zest of 1 large meyer lemon
  • 2 Tablespoons Meyer lemon juice from about 1 large meyer lemon
  • 3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic , crushed or minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt , or to personal taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon mayonnaise
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar or honey , optional

Instructions 

  • Combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl (meyer lemon juice, olive oil, salt, balsamic vinegar, mayonnaise, sugar, and garlic). Whisk together until mayo blends into vinaigrette, leaving no lumps.
  • Toss over fresh lettuce and nuts.

Nutrition Information per Serving

Calories: 187kcal, Carbohydrates: 11g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 1mg, Sodium: 332mg, Potassium: 380mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 7g, Vitamin A: 1353IU, Vitamin C: 14mg, Calcium: 49mg, Iron: 1mg