Lemon Juice Salad Dressing

Ingredients

• 0.5 lemon juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• salt
• pepper

Method

Juice the lemon into a small bowl — you want about 120ml of acid-in-cooking, which will be your emulsifier and flavour anchor. Add the olive oil in a thin stream whilst whisking hard. What you're building is a temporary emulsification: the acid's citric component breaks the oil into smaller droplets, suspending them in the water content of the juice. Whisk for a full minute. The dressing should turn cloudy and slightly thickened, not slick. If it stays separated and oily, you've either added the oil too fast or your lemon juice is too weak — a mealy supermarket lemon won't cut it.

Whilst the emulsion is still holding, add your salt and pepper. Taste immediately. Salt sharpens the acid bite, so you're looking for a point where the lemon isn't bruising your palate. Start with 2g salt and a quarter-teaspoon of fresh ground pepper. Adjust by small pinches.

Now the garlic. Press or mince one clove until it's almost a paste — the finer it is, the faster its compounds dissolve into the dressing and the less raw heat it carries. Stir it through. Let the dressing sit for at least five minutes before using; the acid will soften the garlic's bite slightly whilst still preserving its garlic sharpness. A dressing mixed seconds before service tastes harsher and less integrated.

The emulsion won't hold forever. If you're making this ahead, store it in a jar and re-whisk it hard for thirty seconds before service — the oil and juice will have separated, but vigorous whisking rebuilds the suspension. A pinch of Dijon mustard (omitted here if you're strict about fasting-friendly, but worth knowing) contains lecithin and acts as a backup emulsifier, making the dressing more stable, though it changes the character.

Use this cold, on bitter leaves or soft herbs where the salad-dressing needs bite to balance richness or mild greens where it acts as the primary flavour.