This salad dressing is a take off from a house
dressing served at one of the fine French restaurants
in San Diego. We used the shallots raw and once again
I simply seek to lessen the astringent impact on the pallet
of the raw shallots. The herbs in this recipe give your
salads character and distinctive flavor.
Yield: 1 pint
Ingredients:
1 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/3 c. champagne vinegar
4 shallots, peeled and halved
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 t. fresh oregano
1 t. fresh thyme
1 t. fresh marjoram
1 t. fresh parsley
(this is a good start on the herbs, you can add or subtract
herbs as you see fit)
Kosher salt
Course ground pepper
1 t. sugar (optional)
2 T. dijon mustard (optional if you desire an emulsified
dressing- see glossary)
Instructions:
Place halved shallots and garlic on a baking sheet. Drizzle
1 T. of olive oil over them, and place in a pre-heated
400 degree oven until fragrant and browned, remove from
the oven and cool to room temperature. Place fresh herbs
in the bowl of a food processor and blend until coarsely
chopped. Add roasted shallots and garlic and continue
to chop. Drizzle in vinegar then slowly and steadily(drizzle)
add the olive oil. Add sugar if desired. To create a better
emulsion, prior to drizzling in the olive oil, add mustard
if desired. Be aware that the mustard will alter the flavor
of this dressing. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt
and pepper.
Note: At the French restaurant and in the Conference
center we have plenty of fresh herbs to use to create
this dressing. This is a very small amount of herbs and
can be substituted with dried herbs. However, this will
change the out come. If you can buy the fresh herbs you
will be able to use them for other preparations as well
so plan ahead. A great idea where these herbs is concerned
is to grow a small amount in you r garden or even in a
window pot. Then you can snip what you need as you need
them.
