Thursday, June 26, 2008

10. Basic French Vinaigrette (p. 168)

There's not too much to say about this one, it's salad dressing after all.

I wanted to serve something with the Eggplant Pizza, and I figured that a salad would be just the thing. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to check off a recipe for The Project (after all, I've still got more than a thousand to go) I went to The Book to check out what it had for dressings.

This recipe is exactly what it says it is: Basic French Vinaigrette. Vinaigrette is one of those things that most cooks seem to just "know" how to make, and everyone's formula is a little bit different. The Book's acid to oil ratio is 2 tablespoons to 1/3 cup. My wife makes a similar vinaigrette all the time, but her formula is heavier on the vinegar and lighter on the oil.

The Book gives the option of using either white wine vinegar or lemon juice as the acid. I chose lemon, which gave it a nice kick. The Dijon mustard is also a key element.

All in all, this is a good basic recipe to have in the arsenal. The vinaigrette isn't very photogenic on its own (see photo to the left), so the photo above is of the salad dressed with the vinaigrette.

Date Cooked: June 22, 2008
Degree of Difficulty: Very Easy
Rating: B

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