Naked salad

Friday, June 20, 2008

With the large varieties of lettuce everyone has been receiving in their CSA boxes recently (myself included), it gets hard to make salads interesting or even remotely appealing (see Eliza’s break up letter to lettuce for proof of how bad it’s getting around here!).

The other day I was staring glumly at a head of lettuce, wondering how I could face yet another salad.  It occurred to me that maybe it was all about the dressing.  I have a garden full of fresh herbs and enough olive oil to…well, I have a lot of it.  What kind of dressing could I make?  Apparently, the question is more like what kind of dressing couldn’t I make.

I decided to go with a multi-herb vinaigrette with Dijon mustard.

¼ cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1.5 tablespoon of finely chopped herbs
1 teaspoon of whole grain Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Whisk it all together (or, in my case, pack into a recycled jar and shake) until it’s all combined.

There are, apparently, about twelve billion varieties (give or take) of easily made salad dressings.  Here are a few:

• creamy parmesan vinaigrette
• balsamic vinaigrette
• Basil and garlic vinaigrette
• carrot ginger vinaigrette
• green goddess dressing
• bleu cheese dressing
• cucumber dill dressing

What’s your favorite way to liven up a salad?