whine & dine

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A couple of my friends know that I’ve been trying to live a smidge healthier of late – a little exercise, aiming for my 8 glasses of water per day, and adding some vegetables into the dietary mix. Nothing too drastic – I’m not giving up meat or fat or beer, and I think I wouldn’t survive the exercise bit if not for my post-gym, pre-shower cigarette. Haha. But anyway, I’m getting a little side tracked.

When bunny and I eat at home (or bento lunches), it’s easy enough to include a fruit & vegetable component into the meal, but the problem is that we do eat out quite a bit, and most of those meals tend to run a little dry on the vegetable side. To combat this, I’ve started keeping a sort of salad bar in my fridge: every weekend I chop, wash and spin a gallon-ziploc bag of salad vegetables, some toppings (fruits, nuts, carrot sticks, maybe a little crumbled/shaved cheese), and when I get hungry for a snack, or when bunny’s got a work function so I’m dinnering alone, I now (sometimes) have a salad instead of instant noodles or chips.

It’s actually been great – nowhere near as tough as I thought it might be to incorporate all these vegetables in. I’m not the hugest fan of salads, but making them at home with 100% stuff that I like means I don’t need to pick out raisins or feel sick when I see a rotting leaf that didn’t get picked out and flash back to my restaurant slave days. And it’s pretty satisfying too – half a ball of fresh mozzarella, torn up, or a few fish fingers (I’m not even going to apologise for how much I love fish fingers) reheated and gently tossed in with the leaves, or even just a poached egg sitting pretty on the top for protein and you’ve got yourself a surprisingly tasty meal.

The best part for me though, is probably the dressing. Additives and mystery-ingredients aside, I’ve never met a store-bought salad dressing that I actually liked. Thousand Island? Bleh. Blue Cheese? Yech. Weird Vinaigrette With Unidentifiable Particles Floating Around? UGH. Which isn’t a huge problem, since vinaigrettes are such easy things to sort out anyway at home.

Armed with the basic ratio of 3:1 (fat to acid), you’re limited only by your imagination. And while I favour slightly more interesting combinations like mandarin orange and bacon fat (probably 2:1 here though, since orange juice isn’t as acidic) when entertaining, the staple in my fridge is a simple sherry vinegar and sesame oil vinaigrette. I love that toasted nuttiness that sesame oil brings; it’s so much more interesting than using a neutral flavoured oil, and olive oil would probably have had me bored by bowl #2. Flavoured with some minced shallot, whose sharpness gets mellowed by a quick prelimary soak in the vinegar, I make up a bottle, shake it like a polaroid picture, and am good to go for a couple of weeks. All the convenience of store-bought, only a gazillion times tastier.

Sesame Sherry Vinaigrette

1 shallot
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
50g (about 3-4 tbsp) sherry vinegar (see note*)
1 tbsp good Dijon mustard (I recommend Maille)
50g grapeseed (or another neutral flavoured) oil
100g sesame oil

black pepper
freshly chopped soft herbs (eg parsley, taragon)

Finely mince the shallot, then add it, with the salt and vinegar, to a small mixing bowl. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. Stir in the mustard. Pour all of this into a bottle that has a tight-fitting lid, and add both oils. Cap the bottle, then give it a good shake.

If using the salad dressing immediately, you can whisk the oils into the vinegar-mustard mixture, in the same bowl.

Taste, adjusting the seasoning as necessary (more oil if it’s too tart, more vinegar or salt if it’s too bland), and you’re good to go.

Use a couple of tablespoons, along with 3-4 turns of the pepper mill, and a sprinkling of freshly chopped herbs, to coat a few handfuls of washed and spun salad leaves. It will keep in the fridge for a week or two, but give the bottle a good shake before using each time.

Yield: 200-250 ml (i.e. about 4-6 generous servings)

Note: If you haven’t got any sherry vinegar in the house, please don’t go out and buy some just for this recipe (though, it is quite lovely in vinaigrettes). Feel free to substitute with red wine or white wine vinegar – or any other fragrant vinegar you like, except probably balsamic, since that’s generally a bit too sweet to make salad dressings with.