I’m always being asked about interesting salad dressings and how to make them. Once you learn how to make a basic vinaigrette, you can experiment and make hundreds of variations depending on what greens you use and what you are serving it with.

This recipe calls for using real maple syrup but of course you can use the commercial stuff most of us put on our kid’s pancakes that is mostly sugar. The difference between real maple syrup and the imitation brands is huge and if you find you can spend a couple of extra dollars, it’s worth trying the real thing especially when you are using it in such limited quantity as in this recipe.

Check out my recipe for a Basic Mustard Vinaigrette

Maple Shallot Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 small shallot, minced
• 3 tablespoons real maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
• ¼ cup canola oil

How to Make Maple Shallot Vinaigrette at Home

Start by heating the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat until hot. Sauté the shallot until soft and translucent, about 1 minute.

Remove the shallots to your favorite bowl for making salad dressing. Some like using a shallow cereal bowl; I like using a recycled jar with a lid that I can store the extra dressing. Add the maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, mustard and just a pinch of salt and pepper. We will adjust seasonings at the end.

Now comes the critical step of adding the canola oil to the bowl. You want to add the oil slowly and in a steady stream while you are either whisking with a small whisk or mixing with a fork but don’t stop blending.

This will help emulsify the oil and the vinegar, two substances that don’t like to stay mixed together. The mustard also helps by acting as an emulsifying agent.  When you are done adding the oil to the dressing, let it sit for a bit to meld flavors.

You can serve right away, but you may find the dressing even better in a few hours or even the next day.

Serve this with a nice selection of mixed greens. In the photo above, I’ve added some crumbled blue cheese for another layer of flavor.

Even though the great summer tomatoes aren’t available yet here in Philadelphia, there is still a lot of good produce around. This time of year we live on fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and basil from our garden or the farmer’s market.

The mozzarella we buy at Costco. I like the large egg size that comes in the big tubs. A tub will last us a couple of weeks depending on how often my girls ask for slices to snack on. Personally, I think this is the same mozzarella that you buy in gourmet stores that are sold individually at twice the per pound rate.

Where we do indulge is with the oil and balsamic vinegar. I like to use the best extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar I can afford. You use it sparingly, especially the balsamic vinegar, so why not treat yourself to something great. You don’t want to overpower the incredible flavors of the fresh tomatoes and basil so a little goes a long way.

You can find great extra virgin olive oil everywhere but they are not all the same. Each producer of fine virgin olive oil will create it with a unique taste and I recommend you go to a store where they will let you sample various oils to find the one you like.

The one I am very fond of is from Giorgio Zampa, a Tuscan style olive oil made on the small island of Sardinia off the coast of Italy. The oil is made with Bosana olives that are grown on the island, harvested when ripe and cold pressed within hours of picking.

The balsamic vinegar I use is incredible but expensive. I like the 20-year Padroni balsamic vinegar. It’s over a  $100 per bottle but lasts me well over a year so figure less than $9.00 per month. So I don’t buy a couple of lattes each month.

A much better buy is the Giusti 12 year balsamic or the Giusti 10 year old balsamic.  These too are not cheap when compared to the price you are used to in the supermarket but there is no comparison when it comes to flavor. Side by side, the cheap stuff tastes like sugar water.

The cost is over $50 but you get 250 ml of complex aged balsamic vinegar rather than the 100 ml you get with the 20 year Padroni. Is there a difference? Of course, but dollar for dollar, the 10 & 12 year olds are a great buy.

Preparing the Tomatoes, Mozzarella & Basil

I don’t remember if I saw this dish presented this way in a cookbook, magazine or on a web site but it looked like a great way to serve them so we gave it a try. In the past I would just slice the tomato & mozzarella and layer it with the basil by fanning it out on a plate.

This method of cutting the tomato whole and slipping in the mozzarella and basil makes it much more elegant. I can’t wait to serve it to friends at a dinner party. To dress it, I just sprinkle some of the extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes (I use the thumb over the end of the bottle technique) and a few drops of balsamic vinegar (using the same technique) and season it with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Garnish with a sprig of basil and you are done. This is a summer staple in our house so give it a try.

A Classic Stinky Cheese Salad Dressing

Suzy F. emailed and asked if I had a good recipe for Roquefort dressing. The recipe below is a classic and easy to prepare at home. It calls for using Roquefort cheese, hence the name, but I recommend you substitute any blue cheese available like Danish Blue or one of the new American Blue Cheeses.

Why? Because classic Roquefort cheese costs 3 to 4 times as much as these other cheeses and when you combine Roquefort with the other ingredients you loose much of its intense flavor.

Roquefort is a stinky cheese and if you like strong, stinky cheeses, I urge you to try it on it’s own.  It’s a sheep’s milk cheese from France that goes back centuries and may be the most complex cheese you will ever try.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 ½ cups mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ teaspoon Tabasco
• 5 ounces of Blue Cheese (Roquefort or some other style)

How to Make Roquefort Dressing at Home

Combine all the ingredients except for the cheese in a bowl and whisk them until smooth. Crumble in the blue cheese and mix together gently if you like clumps of cheeses in your dressing or more aggressively if you like it more smooth.

If you want it really smooth, you may want to combine everything in a blender but I think you lose the mouth feel when you lose the texture from the chunks of blue cheese.

Taste and adjust seasonings with a little salt & pepper. Serve on greens or try it on grilled chicken breasts. I bet it would work well with steamed or grilled vegetables like asparagus.