Elegant or Everyday
Super colorful and customizable, this salad can be tossed together for an everyday meal or elegantly plated for company.
Let’s focus on the formula for a salad and vinaigrette than a specific recipe – an approach to ensuring you get sufficient servings of greens every day as part of a Mediterranean Diet.
The classic recipe for a vinaigrette is usually 2 or 3 parts oils to 1 part vinegar. Today the higher quality vinegars (with no refined sugars added) have become sweeter, fruiter and less acidic, so at Oil & Vinegar we tend to use a one-to-one ratio. Since oils and vinegars don’t like to “play” together, often the addition of an ingredient that acts as an emulsifier is recommended to keep your vinaigrette together longer. This emulsifier is what I call a binder. The formula for a vinaigrette is
(Oil + Vinegar + Binder) x Agitation = Emulsion
Some examples of binders include: mustards, honey, maple syrup, chopped herbs, minced garlic, chutneys, preserves, jellies and more. The sweeter binders like honey will sweeten up your dressing, while the herbs, garlic or mustards will make them savorier. The agitation can be whisking, shaking in a bottle, or using a dressing maker to stir or combine all the ingredients to create an emulsion.
So, try this Romaine Lettuce Boar with Mango -Lime Vinaigrette to get lots of taste, and healthy veggies into your diet, but BE BRAVE and change out the veggies, play with the flavors of oils and vinegars, adjust the binder in your dressing and keep your salads new and exciting, but always flavorful and delicious.
Happy Salad Making!
Romaine Lettuce Boat with Mango-Lime Vinaigrette
Ingredients
1 head romaine lettuce
2 roma/vine grown/heirloom tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
2 avocados, chopped
1 lime zest and juice
1 medium cucumber, deseeded and chopped
1 orange bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
2 ears of corn, boiled, and kernels cut off the cob or 1½ cups frozen corn, thawed
½ cup of black beans (drained and rinsed well)
3-4 tablespoons O&V Mango Vinegar (plus more to drizzle) *
2 tablespoons O&V Lime Oil *
1 teaspoon O&V Mango Madness Pepper Jelly *
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ jalapeno, deseeded, and minced (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Generous garnish of parsley
Preparation
Remove the outer leaves of the lettuce and chop. Take 8 crisp lettuce leaves and arrange 2 piece of lettuce per plate (4 plates) so that the two pieces are nesting inside each other creating a boat on the plate
Prepare all the other vegetables and place in separate bowls.
Mix a couple of teaspoons of lime juice with the avocado to prevent browning. Mix a tablespoon of lime juice, a little lime zest, salt and pepper to taste with the black beans.
Create a bed of chopped lettuce at the bottom of each lettuce boats. Arrange the remaining vegetables in the romaine lettuce boats alternating the vegetables for maximum visual appeal.
In a separate bowl create a vinaigrette with the Mango vinegar, Lime oil, pepper jelly, salt and pepper and minced garlic (you can also add a little chopped jalapeno for heat). Mix well till the oil and vinegar combine and drizzle over the vegetables – be generous.
Serve immediately with an additional drizzle of plain Mango vinegar, a generous garnish of parsley, and a sprinkle of lime zest.
Make this into a meal if you like, by topping with grilled shrimp, or pan sautéed fish laid on top of the vegetables
Serves 4
Active Time: 30 minutes
Notes
* The Lime Oil and Mango Pulp Vinegar add layers of sweet and citrus flavors to the vegetables. This combination can be replaced by any other combination of oil and vinegar that you enjoy on salads, I recommend something fruity and fresh for this particular mix of vegetables. The Mango Madness Pepper Jelly acts as a binder in the dressing, keeping it emulsified for longer. It can be purchased at most Oil & Vinegar stores
Categories: Entrée, Soups & Salads, Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Appetizer, Light Lunch, Making Vinaigrettes, Emulsion, Binder, Mango Vinegar, Lime Oil, Mango Madness, Pepper Jelly, Salad Dressing, Formula, Mediterranean Diet, Corn, Black Beans, Easy Dinner, Dinner Salad, 30 Minute Meal, Weeknight Meal,
