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Dinner Tonight: Roasted Shallot and Dijon Vinaigrette

Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, January 30, 2008 at 4:45 PM

This full flavored vinaigrette came from the Cafe Flora Cookbook, a vegetarian restaurant in Seattle that I’ve never been to. Oh well, I’ve had a lot of luck these kind of works, because they tend to pack a lot of flavor into meager vegetables that I’d never treated correctly. This time it’s the shallot, an ingredient I’d sometimes just added raw to a vinaigrette.

Who knew it just needed a nice roast? It gets creamy and pungent, the perfect balance for the spicy and tart mustard. It is designed to be poured atop a spinach and smoked mushroom salad, the latter item I’d never heard of before. According to the book they are described as an “obvious substitute for bacon.” Guess what I substituted? It turns out smoking mushrooms is much harder than walking to my butcher and buying some real smoky bacon. But the choice is yours. The vinaigrette will taste fantastic over just about anything.

Roasted Shallot and Dijon Vinaigrette

- makes 6-8 servings -

Ingredients

1 shallot
6 cloves garlic
1 1/4 cups olive oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
6 black peppercorns
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2. Cut the shallot in half, remove the outer skin. Crush and peel the garlic.

3. Toss the shallot and garlic with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and then wrap loosely in aluminum foil. Cook for 20 minutes. Unwrap the foil and cook for another 10 minutes, or until nicely browned.

4. Toss everything except the oil into the blender. Process on low, slowly adding the olive oil until smooth.

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Tags: Dinner Tonight, Healthy and Delicious, salads, vegetarian

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