Champagne Vinaigrette with Dijon Mustard

Do you have a go-to homemade salad dressing recipe that you love? If not, hit the print button on this Champagne Dijon Vinaigrette and place it in your recipe folder ASAP. It is my go-to salad dressing recipe and is easy to make, filled with tangy Dijon mustard and Champagne vinegar, and versatile enough to go with just about every kind of salad.

My friend, Betsy, a phenomenal cook, gave me the original recipe which is from the Nordstrom Café. She tweaked it a bit, and I added a few of my own twists, like fresh garlic chives which grow year-round in my herb garden. Lynne Rosetto Kasper once said that you can’t kill garlic chives…and yes, she is correct! They have withstood summers of 110 plus temps, my inept gardening skills, and pesky rabbits.

If you cannot find chives, I encourage you to use any herbs you may have on hand, like parsley, basil, dill, or cilantro. I just feel herbs add so much flavor to a vinaigrette. The original recipe also calls for sugar, which you can use, but I prefer a touch of local honey.

Lastly, I pay special attention to the kind of oil I use. I don’t want the oil to overwhelm the delicate flavors in a salad. Therefore, I mix a strong flavored oil, like extra virgin olive oil, for half of the oil in the dressing and a more mild oil, like grape seed oil, for the other half. In culinary school, you learn the basic oil to vinegar ratio for a vinaigrette to be 3 parts oil to one part acid (be it vinegar or citrus). I feel a ratio is just a baseline and prefer a very sharp vinaigrette with just two parts oil, but for these purposes I have kept the 3:1 ratio. 

I recommend storing this Champagne Dijon Vinaigrette in a glass container, like a mason jar, in the refrigerator. Dressings made with olive oil tend to harden and separate when stored in the fridge, which is normal. Be sure to take the dressing out of the fridge about 20 minutes before your meal so it can come to room temperature, and then give it a quick shake to combine the ingredients. When stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, the Champagne Dijon Vinaigrette will last about one week. As always, I encourage you to drop me a line to let me know if you have tried it and what you think! xoM 

Champagne Dijon Vinaigrette

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Salad

Servings 2 cups

Ingredients

  

• 1 tbsp shallot, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp honey or sugar
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup Champagne vinegar
• 3/4 cup grape seed oil
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp chives or parsley, finely chopped

Instructions

 

• In a bowl, combine the minced shallot, Dijon mustard, honey, garlic, and Champagne vinegar. Use a wire whisk to continue stirring while adding the oil with a slow and steady stream. Season with salt and pepper and add herbs such as chives and parsley.

Try this dressing in my Spicy Soba Noodle Salad! Hungry for more easy, fresh recipes for spring? Head to my Health, Wellness & Recipes category for more

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