Everyone knows that there’s something about restaurant salads that are just better. I’m not sure what it is, but no matter how healthy the menu description makes something out to be, the deliciousness of a fancy purchased salad makes me suspicious. Do they butter the lettuce? Inject the tomatoes with sugar? (Well, depending on the place, I really wouldn’t be surprised.)
I think what it really comes down to is the dressing. Oil and vinegar is good but gets boring, and even the bottled stuff just tastes…bottled. Really good restaurant salads usually have fresh, fun-flavored dressings. That, and they tend to use a lot of it.
While at NGI, we had a class on infusions- oils and vinegars infused with spices, herbs or produce. Those red pepper-infused oils and raspberry vinegars you can get at Williams-Sonoma or Dean & Deluca are actually ridiculously easy and cheap to make, and really take homemade salad dressings to the next level. This particular version is my favorite!
Blueberry Infused Vinegar
Yields about 1 cup
Ingredients:
- 1 cup white balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the vinegar and honey to a boil.
- Put the blueberries into a clean, dry glass jar, and pour the vinegar mixture over top of them.
- Seal the jar well and store in the refrigerator for 1-3 days. The longer you allow it to sit, the stronger the berry flavor and color will be.
- Strain the blueberries and mix the vinegar with your oil of choice to create a flavored vinaigrette!
Easiest “recipe” ever, right? You can also substitute just about any vinegar, sweetener or berry- white sugar with white wine vinegar and raspberries; agave with balsamic and orange slices. I usually mix mine with good-quality olive oil, but if you’re really feeling fancy, go with something special like walnut or melted coconut oil. The blueberry-olive oil blend is really good with greens, walnuts, cucumbers and more blueberries…
What’s your favorite salad dressing? Have you ever tried making your own?
I loooove making Cesar dressing from scratch, anchovies and all
Always a hit when I make it… I wait until everyone tries it before I mention the anchovy part
This is so ironic but I was reading a Veg Times magazine in an office waiting room and made a balsamic reduction tonight with brown sugar and I can honestly tell you I’ve never done that. And 2 hours later I come and read this post. And you put blueberries in yours. Swoon!
Blueberries? Vinegar? Together? Yum! I cannot wait to try this, I can only imagine how divine it would be atop an arugula salad. Perfect for warm weather, or at least dreams of warmer weather. I’m usually fine with a balsamic vinaigrette for dressing, but this might ruin me for that simplicity
How simple! It looks delicious too. Restaurant salads are so good, I have to agree!
I love this idea to make flavour infused dressings! A good dressing can always take a salad to the next level. Mine isn’t anything special, but I always make my own dressing with olive oil, good quality balsamic vinegar and honey. It’s simple, but good!
I love honey mustard dressing. To make it healthier, I use non-fat greek yogurt for the base instead of sour cream or mayo. Lately, I have been making tzatsiki and using it as my “dressing” with my salad.
Restaurant salads are just better! I’ve been “off” homemade salads lately because they’ve been pretty lack-luster. I’ve made a homemade dressing with dijon mustard and olive oil and onions before that is amazing! I need to make it more because I honestly love it more than the bottled stuff.