My Idea of The Perfect Salad...

I love all kinds of salad from fruit to potato and egg to Waldorf, they are all delicious! Except I can not handle sweet potato or pasta salads. I have to draw the line somewhere and Miracle Whip is where on the other side of the line! Last time that my friend
Diane visited Ohio we had her parents over for dinner. We made a delicious dinner and a salad with homegrown lettuce. We had an idea of how to make vinaigrette, but that was all, just an idea. We were guessing on what to add to the bowl using a dash of this and a pinch of that. The salad came out good, but I must admit that it was not great.

After watching the new season of Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics I was inspired to give her vinaigrette recipe a try. I think what we Diane and I were doing incorrectly was not adding enough salt and I think for my personal taste I like a more mild tasting oil the extra-virgin olive oil that we were using was too strong. Ever since I revisited vinaigrette I have been working on adjusting the recipe to my own personal taste. I believe that food is about satisfying your own personal taste. Making your own salad dressing is quick and easy and perfect for a casual meal or to feed guest.

I also believe that the components of are equally as important as the dressing. At times I am in the mood for crisp iceberg and other times I love soft buttery baby greens, but they have to be cold. No matter how you like your salad give vinaigrette a try. I made a salad last night, have a look....


Ever since making my own croutons I will never go to the pre-packaged "sawdust" croutons that come from the store. I make my croutons by cutting cubes of bread from the delicious ciabatta (and by "our" I mean the delicious bread that the bakers at my internship Sparkle Market make). In a large skillet heat 1 teaspoon of butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat, put the bread cubes in the skillet and toss to coat with oil. Add one pinch of pepper and a pinch of kosher salt. Cook tossing frequently until lightly toasted. THEY ARE SO DELICIOUS!


Here are the finished croutons. Nicole and Brian love them too!


Now onto the vinaigrette. In a large bowl (you can even do this in your serving bowl) place 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, 2-3 pinches of kosher salt (about one teaspoon), 1-2 pinches of pepper (1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper), 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard and 1 garlic clove crushed.


For the past seven years Brian and I have gone to Carrabbas to celebrate our anniversary. I absolutely love their house salad dressing which is a creamy vinaigrette. I have been testing how to replicate their dressing, I've tried buttermilk which was good but not close and I have found this combination. 1 tablespoon of sour cream and finely grated parmesan cheese, I grate my cheese on a microplane.


I then whisk in 1/4 of a cup of 100% olive oil, I found that extra-virgin olive oil was too strong for my taste.


Now for the components of the salad. If you are making your salad in advance make the dressing in the bottom of the bowl and then top with your greens and then whatever else you decide to put into your salad. Here are a few things I like.
I love croutons, carrots sliced paper thin, onions (also sliced paper thin), raisins for sweetness to balance out the tart vinegar, and finely shaved cheese or shards of cheese shaved with a vegetable peeler, oh yeah and the tender spring greens.


I made my salad in advance and put it in the refrigerator.


When everyone arrived I tossed all of the ingredients together and we all enjoyed it so much.


I had a single layer chocolate cake in the freezer so I decided to make a peanut butter cake. Peanut butter buttercream, then a drizzle of peanut butter and chocolate!


This is gone today so I would say that everyone loved it! I did! I also found this wonderful blog post on Smitten Kitchen about making and freezing cakes.