Red Wine Vinaigrette

Of course, the markets are full of all those lovely produce items for salad fixins’ and now there are beautiful greens at almost every stall. Excited, I had to come home and make a homemade salad dressing for the week. To go along with the fresh spring theme, I made a light vinaigrette. If you have followed me for awhile, you know I was a prep chef in a small cafe when my husband and I first were married. I spent most of my time, as the name suggests, prepping things, including sauces, marinades, and dressings. During service, I started out cutting up vegetables and graduated up to making sandwiches and salads. I know, I know, it sounds incredibly mundane, but I enjoyed it. Having no formal training, such as culinary school, I kept my head down, paid attention and tried not to get swallowed up by the mad rush during lunch. I learned a lot about everything there, some of that included food.

Vinaigrette is a mixture of vinegar with fat. What ratio is very personal and unique to your taste. Basically, fat coats your tongue making other flavors muted a bit. If you like more tart flavors, you will need to decrease the amount of fat, if you want it much less tart, you will want to add fat to it. I, personally, like a 1:1 ratio of vinegar to fat, but please play around. Taste while you make it and determine what ratio is best for you. This recipe is very easy to double and can be used as an awesome marinade too.

Red Wine Vinaigrette 

Fresh Spring Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 clove garlic, minced

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 cup olive oil

Directions

Mix everything together with whisk. Keep covered in refrigerator for up to 5 days.