Most commercial vinaigrettes are going to be extremely wine unfriendly, especially
to those in the superplonk category. Neville and I are avid salad eaters and we also
do like to drink a wide variety of wines, so here is a salad dressing, which I believe
is friendly to most dry wines. We tried out the salad dressing one hot summer's night
with a bottle of Roberto Voerzio's Barolo "La Serra" 1998. At 14.5% on a turgid,
muggy night in London, you might have thought this to be a bit OTT, particularly
with salad! Not a bit. It went superbly with the dressing, not the least, perhaps,
because it is such a well made wine, despite the high alcohol and the heat, that
you don't actually FEEL the strength, it was so well balanced.
I was really amazed how well this bottle took the vinaigrette (as it ought, at £70
a bottle), that I decided at lunch the next day to have a glass of a relatively low
alcohol (12.5%) Bordeaux Supérieur - Ch. Saincrit 2003, which I had bought from the
owner at the property for 5 euros. No problems with the vinaigrette here either -
and an added bonus was that it is actually a lovely bottle of wine. I don't think
you can get it outside the Bordeaux area, but if anyone is interested, I'll give
them the contact details of the owner, who also happens to be the manager of the
Yon Figeac estate. So here is the recipe:
Vinaigrette with Yogurt
or Fromage Frais
400g. fromage frais or fat free plain yogurt
A big bunch of mixed herbs (the ones you prefer)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard - 2 cloves of garlic,
2 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar
The juice of half a lemon
20 cl. good quality extra virgin olive oil
20 cl. boiling water.
Salt and pepper to taste. This is a type of vinaigrette, so it must be quite intense.
Put in a blender, the fromage frais or yogurt, the mustard, the herbs (washed and
dried), the balsamic vinegar, the lemon juice and the garlic and mix well. Add the
olive oil as if you were making a mayonnaise while mixing, add the boiling water,
salt and pepper (and other spices like coriander, cumin etc. if you like them). This
makes more or less a litre of vinaigrette, which can last a fortnight or so in a
fridge.
And it's jolly healthy, too!
