The truth about Italian dressings
The harsh truth is that it’s pretty much impossible to find Italian dressings in Italy.
I’m sorry to disappoint you all but that’s the truth. When I read or hear about a summer pasta salad with Italian dressing I always shiver. Let alone if we talk about “sweet dressings”.
Even though there are some “dressings” in Italy, there is no such thing as bottled dressing filled with all sorts of things. Traditionally in Italy we do not use dressings, or at least not as many people abroad intend it.
Authentic Italian dressings
If you have an Italian friend, living in Italy, try to ask them about an authentic Italian dressing… In Italy we use mainly two kinds of salad dressing:
– olive oil and salt
– olive oil, salt and vinegar.
All those bottles with an endless list of ingredient are not sold in stores here. I bet many Italian wouldn’t dare to buy one.
I’m not saying you should not use one of those dressing. I just want to be sure you know that if you want to taste a real Italian dressing you won’t need to buy one.
Extra virgin olive oil and salt, it doesn’t get much simpler than this, right?
Store bought vs real Italian dressing: Health facts
My main concert about the dressing you might find in a store is its content. If you take a look at the ingredients, even the ones that might seem healthier are filled with stuff you should not eat, first sugar, then preservatives, flavors, unhealthy oils.
I’ve checked the ingredients of the most sought after dressing and see what I discover:
They are very similar to each other but, what strikes me the most is that, in the two major brands you find EDTA. EDTA is a sequestering agent. Softener can contain it and, as medicine, treats severe metal poisoning. When eaten it can aggravate colitis and it seems it might be carcinogenic as well.
Even though it may be useful in some cases if taken as medicine, the consumption of EDTA may pose many risks for our health, so why would you want to eat it in a salad?
Also you can find a lot of sugar and salt and cheese, eggs.. all these ingredients are really not necessary to enjoy a good salad.
Taste the food not the dressing
If you have a good quality salad green, possibily organic, you want to taste its taste, not cover it with all sorts of flavors.
Sticking to simple ingredients you have in your pantry is a great way to reduce the consumption of salt and sugar. I personally love simple salads, when you add too many ingredients you loose the fresh taste of a good lettuce or a cherry tomato.
Usually salads, especially in restaurants in Italy are simple, made only with lettuce or radicchio and sometimes tomatoes and carrots. At home people usually make salads using a few more ingredients such as olives, capers or sweet corn.
Big salads made with over 5 ingredients are usually called “Insalatona” (big salad). People eat insalatona when on a diet or for a quick fresh meal, but not as side dish. It can contain boiled eggs, tuna or maybe some meat, mozzarella or another type of cheese. In particular, when preparing these ingredients-rich salads, the dressing is as simple as possible.
How to prepare your own home made salad dressing
If you don’t like a simple dressing made only from oil and salt, you can always create your own dressing. Actually you can use only healthy ingredients you have in your pantry and save money.
I would avoid preparing your dressing ahead of time. It takes only a minute and you can make it while preparing the salad.
To make your own dressing you can use (for two servings):
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (if you cannot find a good quality olive oil try with avocado oil)
- a pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vinegar (all kind will do) or freshly squeezed lemon juice
- a pinch of oregano or any other herb you like
- black pepper to taste
You can use a whisk or a fork to mix all the ingredients together. Whisk until the mix becomes creamy. You can modify the ratio of the ingredients according to your taste. Usually I do not like greasy salads so I do not add too much oil.
TIP: eat the salad shortly after adding the dressing. The salt in the mix will pull the water out of the vegetables and you’ll end up with a very watery salad that has lost the crunch.
You can play with some particular ingredients to upgrade your dressing grape must or aged balsamic vinegar. These are sweet and sour and very rich.
If you want a salad dressing that is more similar to what you buy in the store, add some mayonnaise or yogurt to the mix to the get the same creaminess and richness.
Classic Italian summer salads
In Italy when talking about salads usually people mean lettuce. But there are some other salads that use different ingredients:
- caprese with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil
- orange and fennel salad with black olives
- puntarelle (made with catalogna chicory)
- tuna and cannellini beans salad
- sea salad (made with boiled squid and/or octopus, carrots, celery and olives)
Then you can find main dishes that are called salads:
- pasta salad or cold pasta
- rice salad
- spelt or barely salad
The basic pasta salad is made with tomatoes and mozzarella and is called caprese pasta.
In stores you can find canned “condipasta”, literally pasta dressing. However it’s not what you think. Actually “condipasta” and “condiriso” are a mix of of boiled vegetables – carrots, mushrooms, onions, celery, peas, turnip, olives – that you can use to turn your pasta or rice into a salad. You’ll only need to add extra virgin olive oil to that.
Italian dressings in conclusion
When talking about Italian salads I would definitely skip the store-bought dressing. However if you like to stick to your dressing. you might want to check the ingredients before buying it! Or even better, make your own tailored to your taste and with the ingredients you have and know.
