Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette
Vinaigrettes are an amazing thing. As long as you have very simple pantry ingredients, you can literally make hundreds of different types of them. The key is to be willing to experiment, and to be wil...
The Salad Days
As I write this, it is a chilly 29°F. It snowed on Friday, froze to ice rink hardness on Saturday, and melted on Sunday. This does nothing to dissuade me from the idea that people should only live where bananas grow, and clothing is optional. I do not like the winter. At all. Fortunately, spring happens right after winter, and in the spring, I get to start preparing and planting things in my garden. That makes me happy.
But growing things takes time. Like most Americans, I’ve become impatient. I remember when I had a roll of film in my camera that had 36 exposures available. Film was expensive so I didn’t send it out to be developed until all 36 pictures were taken. I dropped it off at the Fotomat and went back two days later. If I was lucky, everyone in the photos was the same age and alive, if I was even luckier all the photos came out properly exposed and in focus. That took time. Sometimes the first pictures on the roll were a year old before I had it developed. Now I can take a picture and in moments share it with literally millions of people, print it a few minutes later and have it on the fridge before the next episode of Law & Order starts. I can have groceries delivered right now. I can get a ride right now. I can find out who the uncredited star in Don’t Look Up is right now. Right now. Everything is right now. Growing stuff isn’t, though. Growing stuff is the long haul of modern life. You must prepare the soil. Plant the seeds. Water the ground. Watch the seedlings sprout and wait, oh my goodness, wait until it’s produced greens or fruits or vegetables of the appropriate size and shape to consume. You can’t Photoshop insects away. You actually have to spend time identifying them and finding the proper product to deal with them. You can’t hurry a tomato to the proper ripeness, you must wait. In my opinion, this is a beautiful thing. The preparation, the planning, the pruning, the pest control, the picking, the partaking. It all leads to something special and wondrous.
That is not to say I am not impatient. I do want something I can enjoy fairly early in the season, and this is where quality greens come into play. You can plant many types of greens early on, enjoy them and then plant other products in their space. There is the classic mixed greens or mesclun mix as well as Baby Bib, Green Leaf, Tatsoi, Mustard Greens. All fantastically delicious and ready usually within a couple of weeks of planting.
For almost all of my garden vegetables, I follow the Mother’s Day rule. I don’t plant my regular vegetables until Mother’s Day or shortly after. By that time, I’ve already grown a batch of greens to satisfy my need for something grown in the garden. This isn’t a gardening tip essay, I’m a decent gardener but I couldn’t tell you exactly what to plant and when. I would recommend Edible Landscapes as a wonderful resource (see below), and you can also find out from the nursery, garden center or farm when purchasing your plants and seeds.
To enjoy those greens, you need a quality vinaigrette. The best restaurants make their own vinaigrettes, and you can too. The ingredients are simple and the variations endless. I’m going to give you the basic vinaigrette recipe here and some suggestions for different types. Trust me, once you start making your own salad dressings you won’t want to go back to store bought!
Edible Landscapes
774-994-0333
ediblelandscapes.net
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