Dinner Tonight: Smoky Chipotle-Balsamic Dressing
I come back often to Rick Bayless and his fantastic Mexican Everyday. Before he gets into ingenious tacos, slow-cooker beans, and the perfect rice, he has a short section of salad dressings. It may seem like he personally created these dressings to mix with American salad sensibilities, but that’s fine. As this chipotle and balsamic dressing shows, they are fantastic.
The sweetness of the balsamic vinegar balances the sharp bite of the chipotle peppers. Even my relatively simple salad of romaine and red onion was tasty, but that didn’t stop me from exploring. I decided mid-meal that it tasted good on everything. Remember those shrimp from Monday? What they needed was this dressing. I rolled sushi in it and even dipped my bread in it.
Smoky Chipotle-Balsamic Dressing
- makes 1 cup dressing -
Ingredients
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 canned chipotle chiles en adobo
1 teaspoon chipotle canning sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt
Procedure
Dump all the ingredients into a blender, cover, and process until it comes together. Adjust the salt if you think it needs it. Add it to an entrée salad, and you've got a quick, tasty dinner.
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5 Comments:
While not quite as spectacular as reaching the end of the World Wide Web, by combining chipoltes and balsamic, this recipe has now exhausetd the possibilities for combining chic ingreduents. At least, I hope so.
Can we now go back to food?
CapeCodBob at 11:45PM on 09/12/07
That actually sounds pretty darn good. I can never use an entire can of Chipotle - so I'll make this next time with the leftovers.
Steamy Kitchen at 10:58AM on 09/13/07
This dressing actually stole the show at dinner the other night. It's rare that a salad is the most exciting part of a meal, especially a salad without interesting cheese or tart fruit. Plus, I love how easy this is to make!
July at 11:50AM on 09/13/07
I broke in my brand new blender last night with this recipe. For how simple and easy it is, it tastes incredible. Really pleased.
subinai at 12:12PM on 09/13/07
I'm confused, CapeCodBob--isn't balsamic vinegar a staple, like olive oil or flour? What makes it so chic, or a departure from "food"?
klg19 at 5:03PM on 09/13/07