Monday, January 21, 2008

Salad with Vinaigrette Dressing

I'm in search for vinaigrette recipe!

Me & Shanon went out for lunch on Saturday at 'Picnic', a new-ish brunch place near Shanon's place on Toorak Rd. It's a nice cosy place with great selection of yummy food.
I had scrumptious vegetable lasagna that comes with the best "vinaigrette" side salad I have ever tasted!
Seriously! I never knew that vinaigrette salad dressing can be so yummy! :P
I like salads - but I do prefer creamy over clear dressing anytime.
Salads with clear dressing are normally refreshing enough to keep me eating them but has never been able to distract me from my main meal - especially one that was as yummy as the vegetable lasagna!!!
This vinaigrette dressing was the right blend! It wasn't too tangy (as the ones I've had in the past) - it has the creaminess and a little bit of sweetness in it.. Super yummy!

So - here's the tempting ones to try so far...
From reading them, I decided to try the following mix and see how I go...

Ingredients:
1/2 tablespoon finely minced shallot
1 clove garlic (minced / garlic pressed)
1/2 tablespoon Dijon-type mustard
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp honey
1.5 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of onion juice (no solids)
2 tablespoons of chopped basil
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 - 1/2 cup excellent olive oil
Freshly ground pepper

I plan to mix all of them, blend quickly with a food processor and leave for at least an hour in the fridge while I prepare the following mixed salads to pour the dressing over:
1 avocado - thinly sliced
1/2 red onion - thinly sliced
1 bag rocket lettuce - shredded to bite size (remove stick bits)
1 medium size carrot - grated
1 medium size cucumber - halved, thinly sliced
handful of pine nuts - chopped
packet of fake crab meat - sliced bite size

I'll post update on how this came out... LOL :)

Please do let me know if you have any tips before I try this!!!

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