When I lived in France as a Junior in college, I lived with a French family. Each day we had breakfast and dinner with our French parents – Jean and Monique. Every night we had salad, at the end of the meal, of course. At first I found the salad boring (my own mom is a bit of a health nut and we had very 70’s style everything in the salad from lettuce to raisins to nuts.) I still love the “meal in a salad” type salad but I also learned to really appreciate the simplicity of the French style lettuce salad with a perfect vinaigrette dressing. Madame would put the dressing in the bottom of the salad bowl and toss the salad just before serving it. It was quite a ritual – she would toss and toss very gently for quite a while. When I asked her why toss so long – she said “so as coat each delicate leaf very well and not to bruise them.”

Preparation – Simple Lettuce Salad

- Wash lettuce well and lay it out on a clean kitchen towel to dry.
- Pat dry with another towel or paper towels.
- Tear leaves gently, and place in bowl on top of the perfect vinaigrette dressing.
- Toss gently just before serving!

Ingredients – Perfect vinaigrette dressing

- 1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

- 1-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

- 2-3 teaspoons Dijon mustard  

- 1/2 clove garlic, grated or pressed (about 1/4 teaspoon)

- Sea Salt & 
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preparation

- 
Whisk together the Dijon mustard, garlic and vinegar in a medium-sized bowl.
- Vigorously whisk in the olive oil until the mixture is emulsified and there is no separation between the olive oil and vinegar.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Tags: dijon mustard, garden salad, salad
Posted in Healthy Eating, KTC-recipes