Did you and salad break up years ago? Consider this post your reconciliation. You and salad are about to become real tight … like giving each other high-fives throughout the week kind of tight.
I’m super excited about this post. It has our first crop of greens that we grow on our tiny balcony that gets minimal direct sunlight. The fact that we can grow anything is exciting. Secondly, it has the salad dressing that everyone asks me about. Finally, we eat a LOT of salad in this house. My hubby, G, was against salad (and most green things) until he met me. As broccoli is one of my favourite foods, (note that I wrote food, not just vegetable) his perception on “green things” changed very quickly … there’s not a lot of collaboration on the menu choices so unless he wants to starve he now eats a lot of salads and vegetables. That being said, there are lots of salad variations I go through and I usually make the dressings. This vinaigrette is by far our favourite.
This is the salad that you should take to all potlucks this summer. Trust me, everyone will think you’re a genius and it is only greens and dressing. So simple. So delicious. Or, make a jar of this dressing at the beginning of the week and the deliciousness should last you straight through till Friday.
It is a strong dressing with mustard and red wine vinegar being its base*, so be sure to pair it with bitter or spicy greens: dandelion greens, escarole, spicy french mix, etc. Make friends with these greens; trust me, you won’t regret it.
Adapted from: Bitter Greens with Mustard Vinaigrette, Bon Appetit
Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 tbsp finely chopped shallot
1 tbsp dijon or grainy mustard
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/3 cup of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
10 cups bitter or spicy greens (escarole, dandelion greens, mustard greens, frisée, etc.)
Directions:
Place first 5 ingredients in a jar or container with a sealed lid. Shake until well mixed. Pour into a large bowl.
Place greens in large bowl on top of vinaigrette, toss until greens are well coated.
*If you’re completely against bitter or spicy greens, change out the red wine vinegar and add in fresh squeezed lemon juice. Toss with baby arugula and go heavy with the fresh ground pepper. Lemon and pepper are arugula’s bffs.
