Homemade Mustard Vinaigrette

 Having your own herb garden has a lot of perks. 

 

For one, you don’t have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to buy an obnoxiously, unnecessarily large bunch of any given herb. Seriously, grocery stores? I’m not trying to make a salad out of only parsley for I don't know, Shaq or Andre the Giant here. 

At most, I will probably use a few tablespoons of what is undoubtedly enough parsley to re-stuff a small couch cushion. I find this is true for almost all herbs, especially the more expensive ones. Would I like to buy just enough to make my meal? Oh heck no, I’d much rather have an absolutely enormous handful just to make sure I have way more than enough, and if it goes bad at the bottom of the veggie drawer of my fridge—because, honestly, who uses that much cilantro in a given week?—then, perfect, just what I was hoping for. I mean, who doesn’t love wasting ingredients, and money? 

That’s why an herb garden with its many perks is the perfect solution. 

This is not one of those perks. 

Unless cutting a beautiful bunch of parsley only to find a disturbingly large caterpillar on it is your kind of thing. But I’m betting its not. Don’t get me wrong, bugs aren’t always the enemy. In theory.  Fireflies in movies, completely awesome. In real life, kind of a disappointment. The spider from Babe:  lovable. In real life, spiders are kind of freaky looking and right now, one's the cause of a whole row of painful bites on the side of my thigh.

I’ve read The Very Hungry Caterpillar—that thing was cute.

But in reality, not so much.  Fuzzy caterpillar from afar, fine. Fuzzy little fellow on my soon-to-be food, not overwhelmingly pleasant. 

Luckily, what with the herb garden and all, it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg to go get another bunch of parsley. Problem solved. 

 

Having a basic go-to vinaigrette recipe has a lot of its own perks too. It’s simple and you can control every element—want to make it lighter, healthier? Cut some of the oil. Want to make it tangier, sweeter, spicier? All easy alterations. Don’t have the herbs a certain recipe calls for, improvise with what’s on hand.

For us, this is a great, quick vinaigrette for fresh salads. It can even be used for a different take on summer rice or potato salads or as a marinade for grilled vegetables.

Homemade Mustard Vinaigrette 

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced

1 tablespoon fresh chives, minced

½ cup extra virgin olive oil 


Measure all ingredients—excluding olive oil—and place into a medium sized bowl. Whisk together.

Continue whisking while slowly drizzling olive oil into the bowl. Whisk until vinaigrette has thickened and all ingredients are mixed. 

If necessary, add additional salt, pepper or herbs to taste.

Vinaigrettes are best served soon after mixed, however, they can be kept in the fridge for up to 1 or 2 weeks depending on the ingredients. If storing the vinaigrette for use at another time, whisk again before serving at a later date.

Should yield about 1 cup.