Ok. You may be wondering two things. First, why do you like squeeze bottles (or why are you just now finding out about them) and second, why do you have a picture of a salad you made while talking about squeeze bottles. Well, for as long as I have been watching cooking shows on TV, tons of chefs use plastic squeeze bottles to plate their various sauces, usually with 100% more style than me. For months and months I have talked about wanting to buy squeeze bottles, not just to plate sauces, but to store sauces, dressings etc.
Well, once I moved to NYC and had access to restaurant supply stores all over town, I finally purchased some. They are cheap and very useful. Why you say? Well, I’ll tell you why. I can now store homemade dressings, hot sauces, as well as other condiments that are now going to look spiffy in my fridge. And professional if someone else were to see them (and actually care).
Serious Eats posted a great article on squeeze bottles and does a far better job talking about why there are so awesome. You can read that here. They have a quote from Anthony Bourdain, from Kitchen Confidential, where he talks about how great they are to use. When I read that part of his book a few years ago, I was sold. Now I can finally walk the walk, sorta.
Anyway, I urge anyone who likes making sauces, dressings, hosts dinner parties, to pick up some squeeze bottles. Oh, and that salad above. The dressing was from my first squeeze bottle experiment. I made toasted almond vinaigrette from a recipe on Serious Eats. Here it is, for your eating pleasure.
Toasted Almond Vinaigrette
- 1/3 cup toasted almonds, chopped into rough 1/8th-inch pieces
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoons honey
- 1 small shallot, finely minced (about 1 tablespoon)
- 1 tablespoons chopped herbs (parsley, tarragon, or basil work well)
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
Mix all ingredients and place into a squeeze bottle. To pieces of almond from getting stuck, cut down the tip of the bottle.
Mmmm….Your dressing sounds so good!
I don't have any squeeze bottles at this point, but you are reminding me how much I love them too. The dressing sounds delicius. Always looking for a new way to dress up salads.
Yes please! This dressing sounds super delicious!