Complexity + Simplicity: The Balsamic Vinaigrette
As my taste for food matured over the years, one of the most fascinating recipes I came across was in, of all places, GQ: a recipe for a simple balsamic vinaigrette. It actually didn’t inspire me to go ahead and make it; rather, the simplicity of the suggested assembly got the wheels turning in my head about how easy and simple good, fresh food should be.That was three(?) years ago. Last night I finally got down and dirty, not really remembering the specifics of the recipe, only the general idea. I just happened to have fresh spinach and a fresh lemon in the fridge, so I whisked up some extra virgin olive oil, some aged balsamic, a squeeze of lemon, a spoonful of dijon, a crack of pepper and a dash of salt, and voila! Tastiness! It emulsifies rather easily, especially with the dijon mustard to help it.
Mind you, I had all these ingredients on hand, thank god. I’ve been on the same bottle of aged balsamic since two summers ago in SF. It’s good shit. That and dijon is a requirement in my fridge.
Anywho, toss in the spinach. Steal the mushrooms from Josh’s salad that he ordered with the pizza (cuz he doesn’t like mushrooms. sad face. but happy face for me.) and toss those in, too.
Yum. Tart, sweet, peppery, smooth, creamy, greeny(?), and totally natural. I ate it out of the mixing bowl.