How to Make A Great Salad For Valentine’s Day
A Romanatic Valentine’s Day Salad

I am convinced that making a great salad is within everyone’s grasp. The secret is in knowing how to make a great, basic vinaigrette and then in dressing it up in any number of ways so it complements your salad ingredients. A salad should be a refreshing and healthful combination of flavors and textures: a mixture of tender and crisp greens, the interplay of sweet against salty against bitter. Start thinking of salad composition in terms of these contrasts, and you will be able to put together a great version for your Valentine.
A Romantic Valentine’s Day Meal For Her
Be sure to check out my previous post on putting together a romantic home cooked meal for your sweetheart and look for upcoming blog posts for more ideas and recipes. So far I have talked about:
Romantic Valentine’s Day Meal Suggestions
and I put it all together with music and flower suggestions, along with cooking videos and polls on my new Squidoo Lens, A Romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner. Please check it out, give it a rating and send me your comments at the end.
How to Make a Vinaigrette
First things first: the vinaigrette. The general rule of thumb for making a vinaigrette is one part vinegar or other acidic ingredient, such as citrus juice to three to four parts of oil. For example, a basic vinaigrette need contain nothing more than ¼ cup vinegar and ¾ to 1 cup of oil.
Generally speaking, the oil and vinegar are forced into an emulsion by vigorous whisking. A spoonful of mustard contains emulsifiers that make that easier. So now, the basic formula for 1 cup of vinaigrette becomes:
¼ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon mustard
¾ - 1 cup oil
The salad I have in mind for our Valentine’s Day dinner includes the now-classic combination of roasted pears, toasted walnuts and creamy goat cheese, so I want to make sure that I make some additions to the vinaigrette that will complement these ingredients.
Vinaigrette for Pear, Walnut and Goat Cheese Salad
Optional ingredients are in italics
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (you may use ¼ cup of either, or a mixture of both vinegars, depending on what you have in your pantry)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (smooth or whole grain—the texture is up to you)
2 tsp honey
Pinch of kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced shallot
¼ teaspoon Herbs de Provence
½ roasted pear, pureed in a food processor or just mashed very well with a fork
3/4 - 1 cup extra virgin olive oil (if you do not like the flavor of olive oil, you can use a more neutral vegetable oil, such as canola)







