basic balsamic vinaigrette

Making salad dressings from scratch is one of my new favorite things. Or dressing, I should say, since mostly I just make the same one over and over again. It all started with the salad garden that I'm growing in a container behind our house. Planting it prompted me to go to a class about growing salad greens (in order to gain some sense of knowing what I'm doing), where I learned how to make the most simple and tasty salad dressing - balsamic vinaigrette. 

Tonight will be the 3rd out of the past 4 nights that we've had salad greens from the garden with this dressing. I'm not sick of it yet!

Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette

Enough dressing for 2 servings of salad

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 large clove garlic

about 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

about 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Note: since the ingredients are few, for the best dressing you'll want them to be high quality (or at least not the super cheap stuff!).

 

Pour the salt in a small pile on a cutting board. Place the garlic clove on this pile. With the back of a strong fork, press the garlic clove, mashing it into the salt. Continue doing this until you have a thick paste. Transfer the paste to a small bowl. Whisk  together with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes for the flavors to meld. Pour over your favorite salad combination.

Tonight, I'm using this dressing in a spinach salad (spinach leaves fresh from the garden!) topped with walnut crusted goat cheese rounds. Stay tuned for that recipe - coming soon.