Not just for Buzzing

I use my mini food processor to mince, chop, pulse and more importantly as a Mise It dish. Did you know your little food processor can also make the perfect salad dressing where the oil isn’t floating at the top? Many food processors have this little feature that I had not noticed for years. If you look closely at the lid, you will see that there is a little compartment or crevice with a small hole in the bottom. See mine below. It happens to be circular but not all food processors look like this. It may be a different shape. If you put all the non-oil ingredients in your mini food processor first, you can then put your lid on and slowly add your oil while running your food processor. What this does is create emulsification in order for the oil to mix evenly with the other ingredients. It’s the same effect as adding drops of oil while you vigorously whisk but without all that elbow grease. This website provides an excellent description and some tricks to fix your dressing. https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-does-emulsify-mean-480592

This little feature guarantees that your oil is added in a slow enough manner to make a beautiful dressing that doesn’t separate. If you have ever had a greek salad, a lot of the time, you have red wine vinegar sitting at the bottom of the salad bowl and oily lettuce on the top. This little trick can avoid that. It also comes in handy if your dressing needed some chopped shallot or garlic. You can simply throw those in and voila, they get buzzed and distributed in your dressing. This is the technique I use to make Julia Child’s Vinaigrette Recipe which makes the best Salade Nicoise. https://shopitmiseitmakeit.ca/recipe/julia-childs-vinaigrette/