CREAMY BASIC VINAIGRETTE (VEGAN TOO)
My father has cultivated quite a camaraderie with friends, who meet regularly each morning at of all places, Peet’s Coffee. Their friendship has extended outside of Peet’s to a five-course holiday party at my parents’ house. For the occasion, I was assigned the task of making a salad with a simple vinaigrette to be paired with beef bourguignon. My mother wanted the entrée to be the star, so she asked that the salad dressing not be too dominant. On my first go around, I was careful to not add too many pungent ingredients—like garlic or shallots. What resulted was a delicious, creamy vinaigrette, but I couldn't believe my luck. How could I have struck gold on my first try? So, I tried another version with white wine vinegar, but I preferred my first shot. Our family's grown to love this recipe, and we hope you do, too!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup and 2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 T. and 1 t. minced shallots
- 1 small clove minced garlic
- 1 ½ t. or a little more of honey
- 2 t. Grey Poupon Country Dijon Mustard
- 1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ t. sea salt, plus more if needed
- 1/8 t. white pepper
- Scant pinch of dried tarragon, dill, and thyme (less than 1/8 t. each)
Directions
- Step 1 Prep the ingredients. Coarsely chop the garlic and shallots, tossing them into a medium mixing bowl. Pour in the red wine vinegar and olive oil and add them to the mixing bowl. Squeeze in the lemon juice and combine it with the honey, mustard, salt, white pepper, tarragon, dill, and thyme. Be careful to not overdo it on the herbs, just a pinch of each will do. Stir the ingredients.
- Step 2 Purée the ingredients. Pour all the contents in a blender (tip: try using a single serve attachment which is made for juicers, but if you don’t have the luxury of one, a regular blender works well, too). Blend until creamy and dress your favorite salad, even my simple green salad. Just go light on the dressing since you want the flavor of the lettuce, herbs, and garnitures to reign. The dressing will store in the fridge for 1 week.
I found it remarkable that this vinaigrette was so creamy, provided it didn’t have any dairy. What’s more, the sweetness of the honey tempered the pungent garlic, shallots, and red wine vinegar, while the sour tinge of lemon juice added another level of complexity. I counted my lucky stars to stumble on this discovery!
Nutritional Information: serving size: 2 t. or 16 g., servings per recipe: 16, calories: 65 g., total fat: 6.8 g., saturated fat: 0.94 g., cholesterol: 0 g., sodium: 44 mg., total carbohydrate: 1.16 g., dietary fiber: 0.2 g., total sugars: 0.64 g., protein: 0.15 g., calcium: 7 mg., iron: 0.3 mg., potassium: 19 mg., magnesium: 3 mg., vitamin D: 0 IU, vitamin C: 2.7 mg., vitamin B-1: 0 mg., folate: 2 µg.