1.27.2010

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

Wow - How long has it been since someone posted on here? WAY TOO LONG. So - hopefully this post will spring me back into the habit of keeping up with my kitchen adventures in blog form... and force my sisters to comply as well.
So I'll start off with something nice and simple. A salad dressing.
Last night, I was in the mood for a salad but had a bunch of random ingredients and not quite sure where to put them. I had bibb lettuce, a tomato, goat cheese, a red onion, walnuts, a red pepper, blue cheese, mushrooms, and a pomegranate. Now - how do you pick the perfect salad from these ingredients? Do you go with the mushroom, onion, goat cheese, walnuts, and pomegranate seeds with a nice balsamic vinaigrette? Nah - done it too many times. I wanted to use that red pepper! So then I thought - roasting it would be nice! But.... I didn't want something soggy/soft nestled in my salad.. I like my salads to be crunchy. So - I made a vinaigrette! I also enlisted the help of Brandon to help tie it all together nicely.
So the salad I ended up with was Bibb Lettuce, shaved red onion, toasted walnuts, and crumbled buttermilk blue cheese... oh and some tomato slices - topped off with a nice roasted red pepper dressing.

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette
Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients:
  • 1 Red Bell Pepper, roasted and diced
  • 3 cloves of roasted garlic, or 1 clove unroasted (I like the flavor of roasted better)
  • 1T balsamic vinegar
  • 1T honey or agave nectar
  • 1T stone ground mustard
  • 2T mayo
  • a splash of apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3+ c olive oil
  • salt & pepper
  • paprika
Directions:
  1. Place the red pepper, garlic, honey, balsamic, mayo, mustard, & cider vinegar in a mini food-pro or blender. Blend until well combined.
  2. Drizzle olive oil in and continue to blend - at this point, you may want to add more oil or more mayo to change the consistency of the dressing. Add salt/pepper/paprika to taste

So yeah - simple recipe - was perfect for the salad!

Enjoy!
-Lauren

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