Homemade vinaigrette

✅ The essentials

A vinaigrette is one part vinegar to three parts oil, salt, and a quick whisk. A spoon of mustard makes it creamy and keeps it from separating. It takes two minutes, it costs a few cents, and it keeps a week in the fridge.

🍳 The method

1. In a bowl, put a tablespoon of vinegar, a pinch of salt and a little pepper. Mix until the salt disappears.
2. Add a teaspoon of mustard and mix.
3. Pour in three tablespoons of oil little by little, whisking with a fork. It thickens and becomes smooth.
4. Taste on a salad leaf, not on the spoon. Too sharp, add a little oil; too flat, a drop of vinegar.

⚖️ The quantities

For a salad for four: one tablespoon of vinegar, three tablespoons of oil, one teaspoon of mustard, salt and pepper. For the week, multiply everything by four in a jar, and shake before serving.

⏱️ How long it takes

Two minutes.

🩹 If it goes wrong

It separated: a spoon of mustard and a quick whisk. Too sharp: a pinch of sugar or a spoon of oil. Too oily: a few drops of vinegar or lemon. In the fridge, olive oil sets a little, that is normal, take the jar out ten minutes before.

🍽️ Make it tonight

Potato salad, or tomato salad, in ten minutes.

🥘 The linked base recipe: Homemade vinaigrette (serves 4)

• 1 tablespoon wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive or canola oil
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt, pepper