Homemade Mustard Vinaigrette
I've been using my America's Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook
pretty regularly over the last year because it's got lots of great dinner recipes that can be put together in 45 minutes or less. One of my favorite sections in the book (especially in summer!) is Salad for Supper.
The BLT salad from that section is great, and we also frequently eat the steak and potato salad, which consists of greens, sliced steak, and browned potato wedges, topped with a mustard vinaigrette.
While steak, potatoes, and lettuce are certainly a winning combo, the dressing is what really pulls the salad together. It's so good that Lisey, who almost always hates salad dressing, actually gets excited when she sees me making it.
And it's good on pretty much any green salad, not just one with steak and potatoes.
So, I thought I should share the recipe. 😉
While this IS super easy, you'll want a blender (or food processor) to make this dressing, as the vinegar and oil won't emulsify well if you try to make it by hand.
I just use my Vitamix (I own the 5200) and then run some soap and water in the blender afterward to clear out all the oily residue.
I store any extra salad dressing in the fridge in a glass bottle I saved from a drink. Perfect for dressings!
Mustard Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar (I use 2 tablespoons to make it milder)
3 tablespoons whole grain mustard (I use Dijon)
1 shallot, peeled and chopped (I use a couple tablespoons of chopped regular onion, because it's cheaper.)
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves (I use ½-1 teaspoon dried)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
In a blender, combine the vinegar, mustard, shallot/onion, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Blend until the garlic and onion are finely chopped. With the blender running, add the oil in a steady stream, and keep processing until the dressing is smooth.
Store extra dressing in the fridge.
The dressing sounds delicious. I love that you use onions instead of shallots (I do that too) and dried herbs when you don't have fresh (another money saving and zero waste strategy).
Yeah, I bought shallots once, and I felt like the difference in flavor was not enough to justify the price. Plus, I had a hard time finding them in stores too.
Bring on the onions!
I was just about to say this. I am glad I am not the only one that uses onion instead of shallot.
Sounds delicious, I love homemade dressing and haven't bought bottled in years. It's just too easy to make at home. I also make my own ranch dressing. I am making this recipe today!
This recipe looks great! We love having a salad in summer time. Not only are they easy to make, but I love having a cool meal when it's hot out.
This sounds so yummy! I recently started making salad dressing instead of buying it, but am already stuck in a rut with balsamic dressing. This will be a nice change. I am going to make it today!
So this is a man's salad. When we have salad my husband and the boys ALWAYS leave the table and come back for snacks in no time. I cant seem to fill them up on salad no matter what toppings we put on it. I am pinning this one and we are eating it this week!
My 99 Only Store seems to have shallots on a regular basis. A bag of shalloty goodness for $1? Yes, please.
Oh, interesting. I'd never have thought to look for shallots at a dollar-type store!
Looks delicious! Homemade salad dressings are the best. Store bought always has so much mysterious stuff in it, but at home I know exactly what I'm adding!
Homemade salad dressing ingredient lists are so short, it's almost shocking. Especially when compared to the bottled stuff. It really doesn't take much to make a dressing!
Just saw that the ATK cookbook you mention is on sale right now for $10.
Oh, is it? I knew it was a while back but I thought the sale had ended. SWEET.
I have been using ATK's dressing recipes as a guide for a while now for homemade dressings. This one sounds delicious! I think I'll try it for my lunch salad.
I make a similar dressing, but I really really like the shallots in there! Makes a huge difference (IMHO), and shallots are readily available where I live in Calif. (and have a long shelf life). OK also, if you add 1/2 tsp dry mustard (Coleman's) to the dressing it will emulsify without a blender.
Hmm. So now I have a dilemma! Do I try it with the more expensive shallots and risk discovering that it's way better? Or do I stick with the onions and figure what I don't know won't hurt me? 😉
A little bit of shallot goes farther than a similar size bit of onion. And I just bought a huge loose shallot for $0.50... seems a cheap risk to take! (But I am biased: I really like shallots!) 🙂
I love shallots and I think they make a HUGE difference!!! Plus you can use them in so many other yummy recipes-- I make a blackberry chicken which features shallots in a prominent role. Again, where I live, shallots are reasonable and are kind of like a combo between garlic and red onions. LOVE them!
I almost always make homemade salad dressings. Will have to give this one a try. Thanks!
Count me among the fans of shallots. It just seems fancier, and even if there isn't actually a difference. So I like my food more.
As for mustard, I have been making a mustard cream sauce for fish lately. Brown fish and veggies in a pan, then add broth and cook until fish is done. Take out fish and veggies, then mix mustard and heavy cream in the pan. Pour over the fish. It's versatile and almost impossible to screw up, which is an important attribute for food in my mind.
Also: heavy cream makes everything better. 😉
I checked out one of the ATK cookbooks from my library and found this salad about 2 days after your post. The adults enjoyed it and the kids (7 & 9yo tolerated it). The one thing I did differently was to add a chopped avocado. It was wonderful.
Are you allowed to post the recipe for the steak salad? I have no idea what the secret is to make those potatoes so beautiful!
Yep, I could. The secret to the potatoes is to cut them in wedges, toss them with a little oil, cover them, and microwave them until they're pretty tender.
Then you heat up some fat in a cast iron pan until it's nice and hot (bacon grease is my usual choice) and cook the potatoes briefly on each side, until they're nice and crispy.
Parcooking them in the microwave means you don't have to cook them for ages in the pan, which can sometimes get them burnt on the outside before the inside is done. It works great!
Just got done making the vinaigrette! It however turned into quite the process for me.......got out my blender and noticed that the jar base had split..bye bye blender, so got out my stick blender that i had yet to use since buying. I thought I could just make it easy in a canning jar....well noooo because I dont have wide mouth and the blender head doesn't fit. So had to stop and think and look around....ended up making it in my husbands huge beer mug and then transferring to the canning jar for storage. Whew...im exhausted now 🙂 But the vinaigrette is tasty!! Thank you for the recipe!
Oh, gracious. I'm really glad you like it, at least. It would be dreadful to go through all that only to discover you don't like the dressing!