Hyde Park, N.Y. ? Salads are refreshing, lighter fare, popular year-round, not only during the hot summer months. There’s an abundance of good greens available nowadays for cooks to make into interesting and satisfying salads.

However, high-calorie, high-fat salad dressings can weigh down an otherwise healthful salad. Fortunately, a variety of easy techniques exists for creating tasty dressings with a lower fat content.

The tasty Ratatouille Vinaigrette that dresses these salad greens uses low-calorie substitutions for some ingredients.

One of the best substitutes for oil in salad dressings is stock or broth. A stock or broth adds flavor while significantly reducing fat content.

Stock and broth also can be thickened with a “slurry” of arrowroot (or cornstarch) before being added to other ingredients in a dressing, which will help keep the dressing’s creamy consistency.

To make a slurry, combine 1 1/2 teaspoons of arrowroot with enough hot stock to dissolve the arrowroot. This mixture should coat the back of a spoon. The slurry can then be whisked into the remaining stock.

Vinegars such as rice wine, sherry, cider, red wine, balsamic, malt, and champagne vinegar can be added (or their amounts increased) to a dressing recipe, to replace some or all of the oil and to enrich the flavor.

Citrus or fruit juices are also tasty substitutes for oil, as are vegetable purees, which offer more body. Vegetable purees such as tomato, carrot, or cucumber can be made by processing the vegetable in a food processor until it has a smooth texture.

“Low-fat doesn’t need to mean a lack of flavor,” says chef Michael Garnero, associate professor at the Culinary Institute of America.

“Try reducing liquid ingredients to intensify the flavor. Rapidly boil a liquid until it becomes thickened. For example, boil citrus juice until one-half the volume evaporates. Another trick is to use a small amount of flavored or infused oils, but remember that very small portions create intense flavor, so use sparingly.”

When you remove fat from a dressing recipe, consider other ways of increasing flavor in compensation. Mustard, for example, these days is available in many different intensities and flavors, including Chinese mustard, Dijon mustard, country style mustards and very hot mustards. These can add a “zip” to the dressing’s flavor.

Horseradish is another flavor-packed condiment that can be used in small quantities to enhance a dressing. Many prepared sauces, such as steak sauce and hot pepper sauce, can also boost flavor.

A whole range of other flavorful ingredients can add taste and texture to a salad dressing recipe among them are capers, chopped olives, celery seed, mustard seed; fresh herbs such as chopped chives, cilantro, parsley, basil, tarragon and dill; and pungent ingredients such as chopped shallots, scallions, garlic, leeks, celery and bell peppers.

Creamy dressings can be adjusted to lower the fat content while still keeping the creamy texture and taste. Nonfat or low-fat yogurt (drained), part-skim ricotta cheese (pureed) and nonfat buttermilk are ideal substitutes for the dairy products with higher fat content used in traditional creamy dressings.

The following recipe for ratatouille vinaigrette uses fat-reduction substitutions but still gives you a flavorful dressing.

The recipe is among those featured in the Culinary Institute of America’s cookbook, “The Professional Chef’s Techniques of Healthy Cooking” (Wiley).

Ratatouille Vinaigrette

1 1/2 teaspoons arrowroot

1 cup vegetable stock

1/2 cup sherry vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced shallots

1/2 zucchini, diced small

1/2 cup red pepper, diced small

1/2 cup yellow pepper, diced small

1 tablespoon basil, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon chopped oregano

1 tablespoon chopped chervil

1/4 quarter teaspoon salt

Combine arrowroot with enough cold stock to form a slurry. Bring remaining stock to a boil and stir in slurry. Return to a boil and stir constantly until stock thickens. Remove from heat, stir in vinegar, and cool completely.

Add mustard to thickened stock. Gradually whisk in oil. Stir in remaining ingredients. Refrigerate until needed. Under refrigeration this dressing will keep for several weeks; however, fresh herbs may darken.

Makes 16 servings of 2 tablespoons each.

Nutrition information per 2-tablespoon serving: 60 cal., trace pro., 3 g carbo., 5 g fat, 0 chol., 50 mg sodium.