Last week, I found myself inundated with salad greens. Superstorm Sandy left my friends without power, and I inherited all their perishable food so that it wouldn’t go to waste. For someone who cooks for only one or two most of the time and shops every day for whatever it is I want that night, inheriting the weekly produce for a family of three was a little overwhelming. I had a large tub of mixed greens(you know – the size that you can wash a baby or small dog in!), a huge bag of spinach, and a couple of heads of radicchio, all on top of the usual box of greens and other salad ingredients that I had on hand for myself. It looked like salad was going to be an “every meal accompaniment” – with eggs for breakfast, as an entree for lunch and along side every dinner – for as long as they would last.
The good news was… I love salad. I truly do. I have a fondness for foods that are so variable (like omelets, pizza, pastas). You can add any mixture of ingredients and dressings to a bowl of greens and change the salad completely from what it was the last time you had it. All this salad got me thinking about vinaigrettes and in talking with my friends about my overabundance of salad greens, I realized that the simplicity of a vinaigrette often eludes the home cook. So, I thought I’d put together some tips for making a perfect vinaigrette.
The word vinaigrette is really just the diminutive form of the French word vinaigre, which means “vinegar”. “Little Vinegar”. That makes sense since a vinaigrette in its most classic form is just a combination of three parts oil to one part vinegar. The classic 3:1 ratio is easy to remember, and now you know that the vinegar is the “little” number. Stick with that ratio, and your vinaigrette will be fine every time.
The tricky part is that vinegar and oil are two liquids that don’t like to mix. They need to be coerced together either by vigorous whisking, which breaks the oil and vinegar into smaller molecules that can be suspended in each other, or by adding another ingredient that helps them mix together. These other ingredients are called “emulsifying agents” because they help to keep the oil and vinegar in suspension or emulsify the mixture. Popular emulsifying agents are sweet ingredients (like honey, sugar, balsamic vinegar), mustard, or egg yolks (think caesar salad dressing or mayonnaise). These emulsifiers are ingredients that could mix with both oil OR vinegar and therefore, when mixed with both, they keep the two opposing forces together. They are the host of the party, bringing friends together who wouldn’t otherwise socialize. Of course, on occasion the oil and vinegar may still separate from each other after being mixed with an emulsifying agent, but a good stir brings them back again.
Once you know the basic ingredients of a vinaigrette (oil and vinegar), how much of each to use (3:1 ratio) and how to mix them together (whisking along with an emulsifying agent), the next extremely important factor to consider is the quality of those two ingredients. This is a rule that I stick to with ALL things that I cook – the ingredients must be top quality, the best you can buy. Your vinaigrette can only be as good as your ingredients – sort of like a chain only being as strong as the weakest link. Use harsh and sour vinegar or bland and flat olive oil, and you will end up with a less than tasty vinaigrette.
I have several oils and several vinegars in my pantry at any given time. That’s what helps to make salads different from each other day to day. My selection of vinegars always includes red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar and white balsamic vinegar (tastes much like regular balsamic, but without the dark color). Those vinegars, along with citrus juices, keep me in good stock for almost any vinaigrette I choose to make.
My oil of choice when making a vinaigrette is olive oil, although I do like to use grapeseed oil when I don’t want the flavor of olive. I have several different olive oils in my pantry – some grassy, some fruity, some strongly flavored and others light – but my “go to” olive oil that I turn to most often is an Italian oil from a small town called Olevano sul Tusciano. Those of you who have seen me on QVC will know of my affection for Olevano Olive Oil. It is one of the most affordable high quality olive oils I’ve come across, but it’s the flavor that I really love. The oil is made from olives that are allowed to ripen on the trees and then are hand-picked to ensure that there is no bruising. Once picked, the olives are pressed within 12 hours using no chemicals and no heat. This olive oil is extra-virgin olive oil, with an acidity level well under 1%. It’s fruity and full-bodied with a buttery flavor and a very slight bite at the end. That, to me, is a perfect “go to” oil to have in your kitchen. Set yourself up with top quality ingredients, like Olevano olive oil, and you’ll have delicious vinaigrettes in no time.I’ll be presenting the Olevano olive oil on QVC on Sunday, November 11th at noon ET – come and get it (there’s even an olive oil hand cream included)!
Of course, you don’t have to mix your vinaigrette in a bowl before dressing your salad. I often just dress a salad free hand right in the bowl. I season the greens with salt and pepper, then drizzle the vinegar or lemon juice on top, and then I finish with the olive oil. It’s simple, but does take a little practice. The trick to doing this is to use less vinegar or lemon juice than you think you need, and more olive oil than you think you need. The only way to get better at it is to practice. It’s not rocket science and it’s very easy to fix by adjusting the ingredients after you taste the greens, but if you learn to do it successfully, you will be sure to impress your friends. 😉
Here are some additional tips on vinaigrettes and a basic recipe to get you started:
- Use a 3:1 ratio of oil:vinegar as your starting point. If you like your vinaigrettes more acidic, add more vinegar; if you like them less acidic, add more oil. This ratio is not set in stone.
- Remember the emulsifying agents that you can use: mustard, egg yolk, sugar, honey, balsamic vinegar
- Start with the vinegar, end with the oil. Mustard or honey or sugar will dissolve in vinegar, but not in the oil. Add these ingredients to the vinegar first, dissolve and when everything is added, drizzle in the oil.
- If you’re adding chopped shallots or a smashed garlic clove to your dressing, let them sit in the vinegar for several minutes before adding the oil. This lets the flavors mellow a little.
- Adding fresh herbs to a vinaigrette at the last minute is a great idea for more flavor – chives, parsley, tarragon are great herbs to use.
- It is better to taste your vinaigrette on a lettuce leaf, rather than on your finger. Some greens are more or less bitter than others, and you want your vinaigrette to suit your greens.
- Always bring your vinaigrette to room temperature before dressing your salad – the flavor is more true.
- If you’re making a vinaigrette free-hand, always use less vinegar than you think you need and more oil than you think you need.
- Always… always… use the very best ingredients you can.
Simple Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon or other good mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- salt, to taste
- pinch cayenne pepper
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin Olevano olive oil
Directions:
- Combine the vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and cayenne in a small bowl.
- Whisk in the olive oil.