Healthy Green Salad with Foolproof Vinaigrette - Healthy vegetarian dish

JD

September 28, 2019

0

healthy-salad, tasty-food-recipe

Most cooks, even good ones, don’t do a very good job when it comes to making a simple green salad. The key is coating the greens evenly but lightly with a properly mixed dressing. Because oil and vinegar naturally
repel each other, vinaigrettes tend to separate, leading to a dressing that is harsh and acidic in one bite, then dull and oily in the next. Whisking slowly and steadily helps break the vinegar into tiny droplets that become dispersed in the oil, creating a smooth mixture called an emulsion. To make a more stable emulsion, we added mustard and mayonnaise, which help to bond the vinegar and oil together. Rubbing the salad bowl with half a peeled garlic clove provides just a hint of garlic flavor. This is a basic formula for vinaigrette; red wine, white wine, sherry, or champagne vinegar will all work here, so use whichever you like best.

Servings

4

Total Time

10 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon wine vinegar
1½ teaspoons minced shallot
½ teaspoon mayonnaise
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
⅛ teaspoon salt
Pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces (8 cups) lettuce
½ garlic clove, peeled

Procedure

1. Combine vinegar, shallot, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and pepper to taste in small bowl. Whisk until mixture is milky in appearance and no lumps of mayonnaise remain.
2. Place oil in small measuring cup so that it is easy to pour. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle oil into vinegar mixture. If pools of oil gather on surface as you whisk, stop addition of oil and whisk mixture well to combine, then resume whisking and drizzling in oil in slow stream. Vinaigrette should be glossy and lightly thickened, with no pools of oil on its surface. (Vinaigrette can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.)
3. Fill salad spinner bowl with cool water, add lettuce, and gently swish leaves around. Let grit settle to bottom of bowl, then lift lettuce out and drain water. Repeat until lettuce no longer releases any dirt.
4. Dry greens using salad spinner, stopping several times to dump out excess water. Blot with paper towels to remove any remaining moisture. Tear dried greens into bite-size pieces. Rub inside of salad bowl with garlic. Add lettuce.
5. Rewhisk dressing and drizzle small amount over greens. Toss greens with tongs, taste, and add more dressing if desired. Serve.

Variation

Lemon Vinaigrette
Substitute lemon juice for vinegar and omit shallot. Add ¼ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest and pinch sugar with salt and pepper.

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