Blue Jean Chef

I’ve been making a lot of salads for myself lately. They’ve mostly been lunches and I’ve been using up everything I have left over. I have a particular fondness for foods like this - those that use up leftovers. You can do this easily with salads, omelets, frittatas, pizzas, quiche and the like. It’s gratifying to clean out the fridge and have a delicious meal at the same time. Here’s what I made with Thanksgiving leftovers - mixed greens with leftover brined turkey breast, roasted red beets, segments of clementines, sliced almonds and a beautifully stinky Stilton given to me by a friend. Of course, you can add any combination of ingredients you might have lying around your kitchen. Dried apricots are especially good with the vinaigrette.

The vinaigrette has become one of my favourites and uses two prepared condiments: Stonewall Kitchens’ Bourbon Molasses Mustard and Palette Fine Foods’ Chili Honey. Here’s the recipe for the vinaigrette:

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Stonewall Kitchens’ Bourbon Molasses Mustard
1 teaspoon Palette Fine Foods’ Chili Honey
salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Combine the vinegar, mustard and honey and whisk well. Add the salt and black pepper and whisk.
2. Add the olive oil and whisk to emulsify.
3. Alternately, you can shake this whole thing up in a lidded jar, but be sure to dissolve the mustard and honey in the vinegar first before adding the oil.