Vinaigrette week* wraps up on DadCooksDinner with another favorite of mine, Blue Cheese Dressing. A salad with blue cheese dressing goes wonderfully with a nice, juicy steak. And, of course, it's the traditional accompaniment with Chicken Wings (recipe Grill Roasted Chicken Wings).
*And yes, I know it's not Vinaigrette week any more. I made the classic Fencepost Error. I was thinking I needed five dressing recipes, one for each day of the week, but I forgot that the basic technique would take up one day. What really bothers me is that I'm a computer programmer, so I really should know better. I mean, I'm the kind of person who knows what you call that kind of mistake - you'd think I could remember not to make it!
Oh, well, you get a bonus dressing out of the deal, so I guess it's not all bad.

Recipe: Blue Cheese Dressing

Variations:
*Less Cheese. This is a very chunky blue cheese dressing, because that's how I prefer it. You could cut back to ¼ cup of crumbled blue cheese and it would still taste great.Notes:
*Unlike some of the other vinaigrettes, this one is pretty forgiving in its ingredients. As long as you use decent vinegar and oil, and real mayonnaise (again, no miracle whip, please!), you'll be fine.
*For the blue cheese - use Danish Blue cheese in the dressing. It's less expensive, and gives you the blue cheese flavor you need. Please don't use the good stuff, or I'll cry. And, you'll spend a lot of money.
*While I'm talking about ingredients, my favorite White Wine Vinegar is this one from Alessi. It also goes well in the balsamic vinaigrette (recipe) from last week, if you want a lighter dressing.

Inspired by:
Too many chicken wings to count. My recipe (Grill Roasted Chicken Wings) was inspired by Steven Raichlen's BBQ USA

I was working on variations on my balsamic vinaigrette. I wanted to do something different. I vaguely remembered the Caesar Salad dressing I had made, carefully following the directions in Cooks Illustrated, a few weeks before. As I was trying to reconstruct the recipe in my mind, it dawned on me - it's the same formula! Just substitute lemon juice for the vinegar, and mayonnaise for the oil, and you're ready to go. My vinaigrettes have been unstoppable ever since.

See the Vinaigrette Basic Technique (Vinaigrette Basic Technique) for an overview

Ingredients

• Juice of 1 lemon (2 to 3 tablespoons)
• pinch of sugar (⅛ teaspoon), optional
• pinch of salt (⅛ teaspoon)
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper (⅛ teaspoon)
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese (optional), plus some extra for the salad

How to make Caesar Salad Dressing

Easy Way

Whisk to blend: 

Whisk all the ingredients in a small bowl until creamy.

OR: With Finesse

1. Dissolve the salt and sugar: Whisk the lemon juice, sugar, salt, black pepper, and minced garlic in a small bowl until the salt and sugar dissolve, about 10 seconds.
2. Add the oil: Add the oil and whisk until combined.
3. Add the mayonnaise: Add the mayonnaise and whisk until creamy.
4. Add the cheese: Add the grated parmesan, and stir to combine.
5. Serve: Just before serving, whisk the dressing again to bring it back together. Toss the lettuce with the dressing. Sprinkle the extra parmesan on top of the bowl of salad (family style), or on the salad when serving (individual plates).

Notes

• This is what I think of as the base recipe for creamy salad dressings - vinaigrette where mayonnaise is substituted for most of the olive oil.
• If you would like more of a tart flavor to your dressing, skip the sugar, only juice half the lemon, and substitute 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar for the other half
• You can leave the parmesan out of the dressing; I just like having it in there - it gets spread throughout the salad and goes farther.
• They're not absolutely necessary, but to make your Caesar salad complete, you should have garlic croutons. This is another thing I hate to buy at the store - just get a loaf of good French bread or Italian bread from the store, and toast it yourself. Make some extra dressing, cut the toasted bread into cubes, and toss them with a little of the extra dressing. Let them sit and soak up the dressing, then add them to the salad when serving. Or, make garlic crostini and cube it - but that's a recipe for another day.
• To turn this into meal, grill or saute some boneless, skinless chicken breasts, slice them, and serve them on top; you've got Chicken Caesar Salad! Or, serve this as a side with roasted chicken. Say, a rotisserie chicken (recipe here).
• There's a lot going on in this dressing, so the quality of the ingredients aren't quite as important as in the simpler dressings (like the balsamic vinaigrette). Just make sure you use freshly squeezed lemon juice (not from the green bottle), real mayonnaise (no miracle whip), and real parmesan (not from the green can. Please!)

Inspired by

Cooks Illustrated - The Best Light Recipe

For Vinaigrette Week: This is a classic French vinaigrette*, made with red wine and Dijon mustard.
*Did I mention I took some cooking classes in Provence? And one in Paris? Stop me if I told you this one already...

This is my what I make for a quick weeknight salad when I have mild lettuce. Romaine, greenleaf, bibb, or iceberg go well with this. The mustard and vinegar give this dressing some kick, to liven up the neutral flavor of the lettuce.

Recipe: Red Wine Mustard Vinaigrette

See the Vinaigrette Basic Technique (Vinaigrette Basic Technique) for an overview

Showing off my Vinaigrette skills

Ingredients:
*For a 7oz bag of Romaine Lettuce

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• pinch of salt
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 3-4 tablespoon (scant ¼ cup) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon finely minced shallot (optional)

Directions: Easy Way
1. Whisk to blend: Whisk all the ingredients in a small bowl until creamy.

OR:

Directions: With Finesse
1. Dissolve the salt: Whisk the salt, pepper and vinegar in a small bowl until the salt dissolves, usually about 10 seconds.
2. Mustard: Whisk the mustard into the vinegar
3. Add the oil slowly: Add the oil in a slow stream, whisking until creamy and emulsified.
4. Add shallot: (Optional) Whisk in the shallot.
5. Serve: Just before serving, toss the lettuce with the vinaigrette, and serve.

Variations:
*add 1 teaspoon finely minced tarragon. This is the big one - add about 1 teaspoon of finely minced shallot (or grate it on a Microplane Zester). Shallot is standard with this recipe; I skipped it because I was in a hurry, and this is the dressing I make when I'm in a hurry.
*Use white wine vinegar instead of red wine. I won't tell.

Notes:
*Again - think mild lettuce for this one.
*This also goes well with steamed vegetables. Cook's Country had a steamed Broccoli tossed with Red Wine Vinaigrette recipe that I often make, using this recipe for the vinaigrette.

Inspired by:
Lots of places, but when I think of the details I learned in the technique, I tend to think of Cook's Illustrated.

This is my new favorite vinaigrette. I love the mediterranean combination of lemon and olive oil. I think it's the most verstaile dressing I make - it goes well with a wide range of vegetables, from salads, to potatoes, to shredded carrots, to green beans. It's the dressing for Salad Nicoise, Greek Salad, and Carottes Rapees; all you do is vary the herbs you use.

Recipe: Lemon Herb Dressing



See the Vinaigrette Basic Technique (Vinaigrette Basic Technique) for an overview

Ingredients:
*For a pound each of boiled new potatoes and green beans, or a 10 oz bag romaine lettuce (about 3 quarts)

• Juice of 1 lemon (should be about 2 to 3 tbsp)
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest (from the lemon you just juiced)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• pinch of salt
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• 6 tablespoon (⅓ cup plus a little) Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Herbs: 1 tbsp, minced, of any combination of the following:

• Parsley
• Thyme
• Basil
• Oregano

Directions: Easy Way
1. Whisk to blend: Whisk all the ingredients in a small bowl until creamy.*
*Note: Because you don't have the mustard to act as a binder, you need to whisk hard for this to emulsify. Don't worry if it doesn't; it still tastes great. If you're the kind of person who worries, go with the finesse recipe, below.

OR:

Directions: With Finesse
1. Dissolve the salt and sugar: Whisk the salt, sugar, pepper, garlic and lemon juice in a small bowl until the salt and sugar dissolve, usually about 10 seconds.

2. Add the oil slowly: Add the oil in a slow stream, whisking until creamy and emulsified.

3. Add the herbs: Add the minced herbs, and whisk to combine.

Variations:
*Herbs - Any herb would go well here. In addition to the list above, I've made this with tarragon and mint.
*Dried Herbs - fresh are preferable, but if all you have are dried, use half the quantity listed above (total 1 ½ tsp), and let them sit in the lemon juice for a few minutes to rehydrate before adding the olive oil. I do this a lot when I'm making Greek salad; I've never had luck with growing fresh oregano, so I usually wind up using dried oregano.

Notes:
*This vinaigrette is the based on the one for Nicoise Salad - toss some romaine lettuce, boiled green beans and boiled new potatoes in this dressing, and serve with Excellent Canned Tuna, nicoise olives and hard boiled eggs.
*Or, it's Greek salad dressing - use oregano as the only herb. (That's a recipe I'll share another day.)
*I also love this with Carrottes Rapees, a French grated carrot salad (see here for David Lebovitz' great post on this recipe)
*This dressing is hard to emulsify - as you can see in the picture with the whisk, it's already starting to separate. You can (as usual) add a little dijon mustard, but for this dressing I prefer to just live with it separating. I make the dressing, set it aside, then give it an extra whisking right before tossing the salad with it.
*I like the sweet/sour combination of the lemon with a little sugar. Depending on what you're using it with, a little extra sugar (as much as 2tsp) goes well.

Inspired by:
Cook's Illustrated - Nicoise Salad recipe

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For Vinaigrette Week: here is the first vinaigrette I learned as a technique as opposed to a recipe. It's still my favorite - the balsamic vinegar gives it a hint of sweetness that I really like.

I was at a cooking class given by Fat Cats, a local restaurant. The chef did the recipes, while one of the owners kept up a running commentary. They had a good act - It was very entertaining. But, more importantly, I learned two things. The first is, this is just a technique - as long as you know the basics, you can do endless variations. They used Fig Balsamic vinegar, but it was fine if you couldn't find it; just get good balsamic vinegar. The second is that exact measuring doesn't matter - close enough is good enough, as long as you taste afterwards to adjust if you need it.
I remember something like "Add a half a cup of olive oil. (Glug-glug sound as he pours from the bottle.) OK, that's close enough. (Whisks madly, then dips his finger in and tastes.) A little more vinegar. (More whisking). That's it! Perfect!"

This is the first vinaigrette I teach other people when I'm trying to convert them to my Anti-Bottled Salad Dressing crusade.
¡VIVA LA REVOLUCION!

Ingredients:
For a 5oz bag of Spring Mix, or 2 quarts of mesclun mix

• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• pinch of salt
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 3-4 tablespoon (scant ¼ cup) Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions: Easy Way
1. Whisk to blend: Whisk all the ingredients in a small bowl until creamy.
Note: Because you don't have the mustard to act as a binder, you need to whisk hard for this to emulsify. Don't worry if it doesn't; it still tastes great. If you're the kind of person who worries, go with the finesse recipe, below.

OR:

Directions: With Finesse
1. Dissolve the salt: Whisk the salt, pepper and vinegar in a small bowl until the salt dissolves, usually about 30 seconds.
2. Add the oil slowly: Add the oil in a slow stream, whisking until creamy and emulsified.
3. Serve: Just before serving, toss the lettuce and vinaigrette in a large bowl until the lettuce is well coated. Give the lettuce a couple more grinds of pepper, toss again, and serve.

Variations:
Add 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard - helps to bind the vinegar and oil, and adds a little heat. I keep flip-flopping on wether or not I prefer this dressing with or without the mustard.
Flavored balsamic - normally, I'm a traditionalist when it comes to recipes. But this recipe works so well with flavored balsamic, I recommend you go find some. Try Fig, Black Currant, Lemon, Cherry - whatever you can find that sounds good to you.

Notes:
I like this vinaigrette with bitter greens - spring mix or mesclun mix are my favorites.
I also use it as a general purpose grilled vegetable marinade - the sweet overtones of the balsamic go well with the charred tastes from the veggies. I've used it with grilled asparagus, peppers, onions, green beans, and especially portobello mushrooms. If I want to get fancy, I put a little aside, marinate with the rest, grill the veggies, then toss them with the reserved vinaigrette.

Inspired by:
Fig Balsamic Vinegar