Martha's Favorite Vinaigrette

 

I just had a catastrophic shelf collapse in our kitchen in the cabinet right next to our stove top. It's the cabinet that holds all the bottles of oils and vinegars, salts and extracts, and other delightful things in glass bottles. To say it made a mess is an understatement and I just lost my morning to cleaning it all up. The upside is that we now have incredibly clean surfaces and a stovetop but boy had the department of health seen the bottom of that shelf (which rests just above eye level for me) we would have been shut down in a heart beat. I even had to clean the inside of the door, which meant I had to take down my two decades old article on "martha's favorite vinaigrette" that has adorned it and been much ignored since it went up. What a better time to blog it, no? So, with out further ado, here we go. 

 

Directions

     1. In a small bowl, whisk:

•  1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• a pinch of sugar.   
   
  2.  Slowly add 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, whisking until emulsified, or simply shake the ingredients of the jar, or alternatively whirl them in a blender. 
   
  Choose the variation you would like:
  1. Garlic: Add 1 teaspoon minced garlic or 1/2 clove crushed
  2. Balsamic:  Substitue balsamic vinegar for the wine vinegar
  3. Lemon Parmesan: Use fresh lemon juice instead of vinegar; add 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan. 
  4. Scallion: Add 3 chopped whole scallions (about 1/4 cup)
  5. Herb: Add 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, such as thyme, parsley or tarragon. 
  6. Blue Cheese: Add 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese, such as Roquefort. 

   
  Enjoy!