Ever run out of something to dress your salad, seafood, or chicken with? Never again. Keep your pantry stocked with high quality Olive Oil, vegetable oil, and your favorite vinegars, and you’ll never need the stuff in the bottle again.
White Wine Vinaigrette
An all purpose vinaigrette that can be used on salads, chicken, or seafood:
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (we use Colavita)
- 1 teaspoon finely minced shallot, red onion, or scallion whites
- 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons Olive Oil (we use California Olive Ranch as our everyday oil. It’s an excellent supermarket oil that will run you about $10).
- Ground Black Pepper and Salt to taste
- Dried or fresh herbs (optional)
- Parsley, basil, chives, dill, and a host of any other green herbs can be used to add flavors to your vinaigrettes. Use 1-2 teaspoons if using dried, and 2-3 teaspoons if using fresh.
- Place your minced garlic and minced shallot/onion/scallion whites in a bowl and cover with your two tablespoons of white wine vinegar. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.
- Whisk in your tablespoon of mayonnaise until all lumps have disappeared.
- In a steady stream, begin to drizzle in your three tablespoons of olive oil (pour your three tablespoons of oil into a disposable cup or small measuring cup ahead of time to make for easy, and constant pouring).
- You’ll hear hear chefs, cooking experts, and humble cooking websites, like this one, shriek at you over the importance of a slow and steady stream of oil being added to any vinaigrette while whisking. Truthfully, you don’t need to be overly precious, but you do want to avoid dumping in all of the oil in one go; your vinegar and mayo won’t be able to emulsify (evenly distribute) your oil if added too quickly and your vinaigrette will separate, or “break”. Add another 1-2 tablespoons of mayonnaise and continue whisking if this happens to you.
- Add your ground pepper and any herbs (if you’re using them), and taste. You may not need any salt at all as a vinaigrette has a tangy and bracing nature to it. If you feel your vinaigrette would benefit from some salt, add incremental amounts of salt until you’re satisfied with what you have.
Lemon Vinaigrette
This vinaigrette pairs best with strong flavored greens (arugula and baby spinach). More bracing and fruit forward than the White Wine Vinagrette:
- Follow the steps for the White Wine Vinaigrette replacing the white wine vinegar with lemon juice, and the zest of one lemon.
Mustard & Apple Cider Vinaigrette
Pairs beautifully with the flavors of Autumn; think toasted walnuts, roasted butternut squash, and bleu cheese:
- Follow the steps for the White Wine Vinaigrette replacing the mayonnaise with dijon mustard, and the White Wine Vinegar with Apple Cider Vinegar.
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Like the lemon vinaigrette, this variation has distinct, and assertive flavors, and pairs best with a meal that can stand up to its flavors; try pouring some over whole, chunks of fresh, summer tomatoes:
- Follow the steps for the White Wine Vinaigrette replacing the white wine vinegar with balsamic vinegar.
- Omit the mayonnaise entirely, and replace with 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard and 1 teaspoon honey.
GET CHEFFY TIP! All onion/garlic/allium-family items lose some of their intensity when allowed to sit in an acid for a period of time (lemon juice or vinegar, in the case of our vinaigrettes). When using finely chopped onion and garlic, place the onion/garlic in the vinegar/lemon juice first, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
GET CHEFFY TIP! Olive oil imparts a distinct taste whenever it’s used. Vegetable oil is a neutral flavored oil that, may not be as lauded as it’s more popular Mediterranean cousin, but can still be used in all of the Get Cheffy Vinaigrettes. Experiment while creating your vinaigrettes and add other oils that impart distinct tastes, like walnut oil or sesame oil, and create something new!
Get Cheffy 