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Summer is a great time for these salads and light vinaigrettes: Moroccan Orange Salad with Walnuts, Goat Cheese & Citrus Vinaigrette, and Salad with Crispy Spiced Chickpeas, Roasted Onions & Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette. Want some basic tips on creating a vinaigrette and recipes for Basic Balsamic and Simple Lemon versions? Check out the Vinaigrette Notes below!
Moroccan Orange Salad with Walnuts, Goat Cheese & Citrus Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
2-3 large oranges/blood oranges, or equivalent
About 1 T. honey
½ t. cinnamon
½ lb. mixed greens (spinach, romaine, mesclun, endive, radicchio, etc.)
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced (optional)
½ c. thinly-sliced red onion
1 c. walnut halves
4-5 T. extra virgin olive oil, or to taste
Salt & pepper, to taste
6 oz. goat cheese
Microgreens as garnish (optional)
Peel and section oranges (supreme method) or cut peel away and slice into rounds then half-moons. Place segments in a medium bowl. Squeeze any remaining orange juice out of membranes and peelings. Drizzle the honey and sprinkle the cinnamon over the oranges. Cover and let sit at room temp at least 30, and up to 60 minutes.
Toast the walnuts: place on a dry, ungreased sheet pan and toast in a 350° oven for about 10 minutes until golden (watch them carefully!).
Clean the greens and dry. Combine them in a large salad bowl with sliced red onions and fennel.
Remove orange segments from the bowl, leaving behind any accumulated juices. Whisk the olive oil into the orange-cinnamon juice creating a vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt & pepper.
Toss the greens with dressing and place on salad plates. Top with orange segments, walnuts, goat cheese, microgreens, and serve immediately.
Serves 4-6
Chef’s Note: For more tang in the vinaigrette, you can add a couple drops of Dijon mustard, along with some white balsamic vinegar or champagne vinegar.
Salad with Crispy Spiced Chickpeas, Roasted Onions & Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
Chickpeas & Salad Ingredients
1 t. smoked paprika
1 t. sugar
½ t. ground cumin
½ t. salt
¼ t. cayenne pepper
1 – 15 oz. can chickpeas
¾ cup oil (vegetable, avocado, etc.)
1 red onion
6 oz. spinach and/or mesclun mix
Vinaigrette
1 ½ T. apple cider vinegar
1 T. whole grain mustard
2 t. honey
1 ½ t. grated lemon zest
¾ t. mayonnaise
¼ t. salt
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
For
For chickpeas: Rinse and drain the chickpeas well, and lay out on a towel-lined sheet pan to dry completely. Combine paprika, sugar, cumin, 1/2 t. salt and cayenne in a medium bowl; set aside. Heat ¾ cup oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chickpeas, cover with a splatter screen (or partially cover with a lid, to prevent splattering) and cook, stirring occasionally, until deep golden brown and crispy, 10-15 minutes.
Transfer chickpeas to paper-towel lined tray to drain for a minute. Toss chickpeas in the bowl with spices. If desired, crush about half of chickpeas into coarse crumbs with a fork.
For onions: While chickpeas are cooking, preheat the broiler, or oven to 475. Halve and then slice the onion about ½-inch thick. Toss onion with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and spread over a foil-lined baking sheet (if broiling). Roast/broil onions, checking often, until edges are charred, stirring halfway through.
For vinaigrette: Whisk vinegar, mustard, honey, lemon zest, mayonnaise and salt together in a bowl. Whisking constantly, drizzle in oil. Put mesclun/spinach in a large bowl, and toss greens with vinaigrette. Lay greens out on a platter/plate, and top with chickpeas and onions.
Serves 4-6.
Recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.
Vinaigrette Notes
Crafting a vinaigrette is really just following a formula, more or less. The basic rule is:
1 part vinegar : 3 parts oil
However, this ratio may change, depending on if your acid is sweeter (like orange juice, or a flavored balsamic) or if your oil has a more robust flavor (like walnut oil).
Either way, the procedure is the same:
- Step 1 – mix together the water-based items (i.e. vinegar) + aromatics/flavorings/salt & pepper
- Step 2 – drizzle in the oil, whisking constantly
- Step 3 – taste with a part of your salad that will eventually get the vinaigrette (i.e. a leaf)
- Step 4 – adjust seasonings, acid, oil, etc. as needed until you like it
Try the method above for this Balsamic Vinaigrette (amounts are approximate!)
Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette
1 t. minced shallot
A few drops Dijon mustard
2 T. balsamic vinegar
A few drops of honey (optional)
Salt and pepper
6 T. extra-virgin olive oil
Put shallot, mustard, balsamic, honey, salt and pepper into a bowl and whisk to combine. Drizzle in olive oil, while whisking, to create an emulsion (the mustard helps with this). Taste it on a salad leaf and adjust flavors accordingly.
Simple Lemon Vinaigrette
2 t. minced garlic
½ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
The vinaigrette above will remain a “temporary emulsion” because it does not have mustard, mayo or other agent to help the oil and lemon juice combine. This is tasty on salads with stronger flavors (i.e. arugula) or in a summer pasta salad with roasted veggies, pine nuts, basil and feta cheese. The salt in the feta will help balance the acid from the lemon juice.
Learn how to make these recipes by watching the cooking class below
