Recipe: Orange honey dressing

This recipe for orange dressing is great for spring and summer - it has a sweetness and acidity that go well with strong flavoured greens such as spinach, arugula and watercress.  Done right, it should stay emulsified after blending, which is great for evenly coating a salad without the heaviness of a mayonnaise based dressing.  With very little adjustment in the seasoning, it even makes a nice, light sunny day sauce for fish.  The cooling stage at the end of the reduction is important to a good emulsification - you want to puree the dressing warm, but if it's too hot, it will separate.  The honey will help hold the emulsification, but it will work best just above room temperature.  If the finished dressing separates while cooling, it may only need another go in the blender to re-emulsify.

You will need:

1 qt / 1L         orange juice
2                    oranges, zested, segmented and seedless
1                    small onion (or 1/4 of a large)
1                    shallot
1                    clove garlic
1 C / 250ml   vegetable oil
to taste           kosher salt
to taste           honey

Method:

 - roughly chop the onion, shallot and garlic in a small sauce pot (that will hold the juice when added)
 - sweat the onion, shallot and garlic in a generous amount of oil taken from the amount in the recipe
 - when the vegetables are soft, opaque, and about to take on colour, add the juice and let reduce by half
 - zest and segment the oranges and remove any seeds
 - when the reduction is about halfway (down by a quarter), add the zest
 - when the reduction is done, add the segments, then turn off the heat and let cool somewhat
 - add the contents of the saucepot to a bar blender and puree smooth
 - while blending, drizzle in the vegetable oil (taste it - you may not even want to use it all)
 - season with salt and honey
 - cool completely and store in the fridge