Several years ago, The Other Adult in the family made up a salad recipe that has since become a staple in our house. This salad is so versatile and easy to prepare that we can serve it with nearly everything, but most especially we like eating it with pizza. I started making my own vinaigrette about a year ago. The dressing recipe is adapted from
Emeril's recipe on the food network website, because it was the first thing that popped up online when I googled "vinaigrette recipe" and it was a recipe I had all the ingredients for.
Balsamic Vinaigrette:- 1/4-1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar, optional
- 1-2 teaspoons garlic paste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil
I use an old salad dressing bottle and put all the ingredients in through a funnel, dry and chunky ingredients first, liquids last (the liquids push the rest through the funnel). Screw the cap on and shake. I don't always add the same amount of balsamic vinegar or olive oil--in fact, I eyeball all the ingredients. The original recipe called for 3/4 C olive oil, which was just too oily for me.
Black Bean Feta Salad- mixed greens or butter lettuce leaves
- black beans
- chopped walnuts
- crumbled feta
- balsamic vinaigrette
I put together the ingredients in whatever proportions I feel like and it turns out deliciously every time. A word about the ingredients: I use canned beans rather than dried then rehydrated beans. I know that most foodies look down on this practice, but I rarely know the night before when I'm going to prepare a meal with beans. It's just not practical for my lifestyle at the moment.
