You can buy salad dressing ready-made at the grocery store or you can make your own. Making your own vinaigrette is fairly simple and will end up tasting just as great (if not better) than its store-bought counterparts. In this special, food-themed segment of The Marc and Mandy Show, Melissa Makarenko shows Mandy how to make homemade five spice and cranberry vinaigrette.
What you’ll need: cranberries, shallots, five spice, scallions, horseradish, olive oil, dijon mustard, lemon, maple syrup.
The recipe:
Create your cranberry syrup. This will involve combining cranberries and shallots and cooking the two down to create a syrup consistency.
Next, toast your five spice. Combine your cranberry and shallot syrup with the toasted five spice into a mixing bowl.
At this stage you can also add some scallions. If you’d like to add a little heat to your vinaigrette, add horseradish to your bowl at this stage as well.
Next, you can season your bowl, before you add in your oil. You can use any oil you like. While adding the oil into your bowl, whisk as you pour. This should prevent splitting. If you find your oil isn’t mixing well, add a little dijon mustard, which will help bring it together.
Finally, add fresh lemon into the bowl.
Plate your salad, pour your dressing over, and enjoy.
EXPERT TIP To recreate any vinaigrette, Melissa recommends sticking to a 4 to 1 ratio: 4 parts oil and 1 part vinegar.
EXPERT TIP The key to a great salad is to season the lettuce with salt and pepper. You can also garnish your plate with a drizzle of maple syrup, which will add to the complexity of the dish.
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This looks perfect for our Friday Night Garden Salad!