Vinaigrette: Lemon & Oregano. What´s Your´s ?

[Alexandria Profile]

I have shaken and served this vinaigrette in seconds, and it is simply sublimely exquisite finesse. What is your´s ?

1 / 2 clove minced garlic
1 and 1 / 2 tsp. lemon zest grated extra finely
2 tblsps. fresh lemon juice squeezed from lemons
1 tblsp of white wine vinegar or Sherry or Champagne vinegar
1 and 1/ 2 tsps of Dijon classic mustard
1 and 1/ 2 tsps of Bio Honey with flower essence of choice
salt to taste
freshly ground black, white, rose and green pepper corns ground to taste
3 tblsps. Italian or Spanish or French Extra virgin Olive Oil of choice
1 and 1/ 2 tsps. of oregano ( dried or fresh herb )

Blend all ingredients together except the oregano in a blender until well combined.

Transfer to a bowl and stir in the oregano, and then season with the salt and pepper freshly ground to taste ..

Have a lovely day and weekend ..

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

I have made a few jamjar vinaigrettes recently. I've recently used leftover gherkin vinegar, vegetable oil and some Dijon mustard. Put them all in a jar, shake and serve. If I've got any leftover, I have added chopped capers and dried mint (fresh is far too strong for us) which has been lovely as well.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

As I'm mainly eating salads on my own I tend to make up plain basic vinaigrette, dijon mustard, S&P, cider or wine vinegar, good evoo; often a bit of garlic oil in there

This I keep in a jar and add fresh herbs when I use it, but as I'm only using a spoonful at a time it would be hard to make up fresh each day


The first time I went to the USA I asked for French Dressing in Disneyland expecting vinaigrette but got some kind of white coleslaw dressing. Vinaigrette is apparently Italian dressing there

[Alexandria Profile]

Strictly Salsa Claire & Sue,


Thank you for your feedback ..


Sue: I am totally elated that we no longer attend travel conventions across the blue pond.

The hotel buffets, I recall had enormous bowls of salad dressings with a folded "card holder " with the names of the dressings on them .. I recall what they call French Dressing was "orange" ..

Not quite my cup of tea .. I always requested Evoo and Vinegar .. The server would bring a bottle of Evoo and a bottle of vinegar to the table !

As far as eating out, we always went to an Italian venue or Michelin well recommended ..

Strictly: Thank you for your vinaigrette ..


Have a lovely weekend ..

[Stokey Sue Profile]

There's some very good food to be had in the USA to be fair, but you have to find it. Soul food, deli food, BBQ and far more diners that sell what is really home cooking than you might expect. Lovely seafood on both coasts too. But hotel food is generally dull - mind you,I wouldn't eat in a Hilton or similar in the UK from choice either and I've had some poor food in French Novotels (Ibis, the cheaper version, is bizarrely quite good value)

[Alexandria Profile]

Sue,

Firstly, when we attended the conventions, in Manhattan, they were all in Five Star Hotels however, never a Hilton ..

Dinners were always out of the hotel however, lunches, were with my team and travel agency contacts ! Obligatory when doing business ..

We had gone over to the 150 year old Katz´s Deli on 2nd Avenue in the East Village, where the film " When Harry Met Sally " was filmed .. It was fun hearing about the history from the General Manager .. He was lovely ..

However, we do not eat very much red meat ..

We maintain our Mediterranean diet as much as possible since we both are quite sensitive to a large number of ingredients, and additives, plus the issue of the transgenetics or Gmos and hormones used in typical fare of the Usa ..

So, we prefer to do Italian where we know the establishment restaurateurs and the pasta is from Italy and Bio ..

We also enjoyed an amazingly but quite expensive Japanese venue at the Waldorf .. Was a lovely surprise from my husband ..

We also had time to taxi to " Zabar´s ", which I believe you know, which is an elite gourmet epicurean boutique .. They carry alot of imported French and Italian products ..

They had some wonderful freshly baked breads .. And cheeses ..

Each to his own as we say ..

Must get ready for a 21.00 dinner for my tourist group ..

I am in Lisbon ..

Have a lovely summer Have a nice evening ..

[mark111757 Profile]

Copy cat recipe for what they do at the bonefish grill chain.....From Todd Wilbur's top secret recipes website

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[Alexandria Profile]

Mark,

Thank you for posting ..


1 / 4 Cup of sugar in a vinaigrette is an awfully large amount !

The issue for me with these online recipes, is I never use white industrial sugar ..

And I see no need for sugar in a vinaigrette .. An excellent sub is a little bit of honey ..

Have a lovely weekend ..

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I do sometimes add a little sugar to vinaigrette, depending on the vinegar used, some red wine vinegars work better with a little to soften the flavour, but that recipe has royghly equal volumes of sugar and acidic liquids which does seem a lot.


But I wouldn't worry about small amounts of "white industrial sugar", firstly all commercial sugar is an industrial product, and second if sugar is crystalline, it's 99% pure sucrose, the nutritional difference between brown and white sugar is insignificant. As any chemist will tell you, if it has regularly shaped cystals is nearly pure. The only reason to prefer brown sugar is where you prefe

What I find interesting about that recipe is that a little water is included, and that it is heated before use, which I've come across before in US recipes, for example the label on the Paul Newman Italian dressing talks about lighting the stove to brew the dressing he used to make in bulk to give as gifts, quite different from the usual European method.

[Alexandria Profile]

Sue,

Thank you for your feedback ..

In actuality, my recipe and Mark´s are very similar except for:

I use honey verses sugar ..

I use only oregano verses several spices or herbs.

I use only fresh lemon juice, and no lime.

I do not add warm water ..

And we use different Dijon Mustard brands.

I absolutely agree that there is far too much sugar in the recipe Mark posted ..

I have never had Paul Newman´s Brand products so I cannot comment on them ..

I had bought some Bio Ecological Golden sugar at the Health Food Section in Le Mercat de La Boqueria, and it is still un-used and sealed ! I only use a very tiny amount of it, grinded finely and then sifted when preparing a dessert.

Have a lovely day & summer ..

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I don't think your recipe is that much like Mark's, it's the method.

As I said, I am fascinated that Americans actually cook these dressings which Europeans don't, I will have to try it, though I might get some less expensive evoo first in case I don't like it

I tend to use Grey Poupon, it is available in almost every small grocery store in London, it tastes fine, and as Elizabeth David pointed out many years ago, it has the nicest colour for sauces and dressings

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

I have noticed the large amount of sugar in some American recipes (no offence Mark!), including some surprising ones. Unfortunately, that trend seems to be working its way over here too. I have seen so many iced cake recipes in the likes of Good Food magazine that have so much sugar in the icing that my teeth itch whilst reading the recipe! Also, Mary Berry has a really annoying habit of adding Creme Chantilly to a lot of her pavlova style meringue recipes. A pointless thing to do in my opinion, especially when meringue is nigh on 50% sugar in the first place! Don't even think of getting me started on ready made cakes from the supermarket which are gaspingly over-sweet and no flavour!

The one good thing about being able to cook is that we can reduce/omit the sugar where necessary when cooking from scratch. I've done that quite a lot lately, even in baking recipes.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

I'm totally with you there Strictly - the first thing I do is mentally halve the amount of sugar in any recipe, then see just how much I can get away with from there - it's usually a fraction of what's stated.

[jeral Profile]

A standard vinaigrette tends to suffice here for most things, being EVOO, vinegar (malt or cider), mustard, salt, and maybe a pinch of herb if the mood takes. I do like walnut oil dressing but rarely buy the oil.

I can't say I've ever thought of parsley, oregano and basil together for anything, per mark111757's recipe, so I'll have to try that combo. Maybe that's why it's heated, to meld everything?

Not sure about sugar. Maybe it depends if serving with tart pickles to counter? Branston pickle that's been ultra popular here for years, even with "sweet" pork, surprises me as it's decidedly sweet to me with very little zing.

Although, on US TV progs they do tend to go for sweet/sour/salty in many of their stacked sandwich concoctions which I don't think had been traditionally recognised here in our meat and two veg thinking (leaving sugar for the dessert), but then chefs like Peter Gordon, Torode, even Aussie Granger came along and educated us backward lot

Is there a struggle current between 'keep it simple' and the new must have of 'depth of multi-layered flavours'?

[Alexandria Profile]

Sue,

Our standard shops of all sizes, carry Maille 1747 Dijon Mustards ..



Have a nice afternoon .. Have a good time with your salad !

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Branston pickle that's been ultra popular here for years, even with "sweet" pork, surprises me as it's decidedly sweet to me with very little zing.

Hi jeral, if you have an Asda near you, I can highly recommend one of their own versions of Branston, which is the Tangy one which has an orange label on the jar. It is really good if you don't want anything too sweet. They also do a sweet one which has a green label.

[Alexandria Profile]

Thank you Jeral & Strictly Salsa,

Have a lovely day and summer ..

[Stokey Sue Profile]

jeral, if you have an Asda near you, I can highly recommend one of their own versions of Branston, which is the Tangy one which has an orange label on the jar. It is really good if you don't want anything too sweet. They also do a sweet one which has a green label.

I think all those Asda chutneys / pickles / relishes are really good, and very good value. I like the tomato - can't remember whether they call it a chutney or a relish, it's very nice.

[mark111757 Profile]

Jeral

With the popularity of the bonefish grill chain, I am not sure the public cares a lot about sugar. The main thing is if it tastes good.

Here is a copy cat recipe for the olive garden chain dressing.

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Claire

No offense taken. Your comments bring up some good points.I had the dressing a couple of times. Was very good. I can see why copy cat recipes do so well.

[mark111757 Profile]

Maille 1747 Dijon Mustards....from Amazon.com

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Or from Walmart. Com

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