Green Salads and Wine

Vinegar can compete with wine. It’s been a problem for me all my life, getting through the salad course so I could enjoy my wine with my meal. Rule: If you are going to serve a salad with a wonderful vinaigrette, simply do not serve a wine with the salad course. That is all there is to it. Or try a dry German Riesling with you salad course. It will work with many good dressings.

Here are two dressings that will help with the problem if you use good quality white wine vinegar. You can give your wine a chance to stand up to a dressing if you include the wine in the dressing. These are for your favorite green salad. Shown above is a salad Taster-B made with spinach, feta and quince.

White Wine Vinaigrette
3/4 cup of dry white wine
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup wine vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Fresh ground black pepper and sea salt, to taste.

Blend together and store in a covered jar in the refrigerator.

Fennel and Wine dressing
Here is a dressing that I have been experimenting with. I like the Sauvignon Blank because of the bright citrus notes.

3/4 cup of Sauvignon Blank
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of fennel seed ground in a mortar and pestle
1 teaspoon of dry mustard
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of honey to taste
Sea salt to taste

This works well if you prepare the dressing ahead of time. I like to freshly grind the fennel seeds to a fine powder. I place all into a mason jar with a lid and shake it until it emulsifies. If you have the patience to clean your blender, this works better. Refrigerate overnight to let the fennel do its magic or use straight away.