Last month, Lennie, a good friend of Jim's and mine, took me to
dinner at one of my favorite places. It was something I was kind of dreading
because this had always been Jim and my place. It was where we went to
celebrate almost every birthday I had while we were married. (If you read this
blog regularly, you know that Lennie is a widower, and our good baseball buddy
who would come over a couple of times a week for dinner and to watch the game).
As it turned out, despite my trepidation, it was a lovely evening; we had a
delicious meal, and enjoyed each other's company. I'm glad that he took me, it
was a very sweet thing to do, and now that I've broken the ice, it'll be easier
to go back to my favorite place. My point in telling you all of this is that we
ordered a salad as a first course, and it came dressed with pistachio vinaigrette. It
was sensational! Ever since that evening I have been searching for a recipe for
pistachio vinaigrette that is as good as the one we had that night.
I found a variety of them and, after a bit of experimentation, came up with what
I think is the apex of pistachio vinaigrette dressings. It is wonderful on a
salad of nothing more than spring lettuce. If you want to get fancy, add some
very thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms, paper-thin slices of red onion, and be
sure to top off your salad, no matter what you do, with chopped pistachios.
This is easy enough for every day, but fancy enough for company. If you can't
get pistachio oil locally (an absolute must for this dressing), you can get it here. I
highly recommend the purchase; it makes a world of difference.
Pistachio Vinaigrette
4 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons pistachio oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons crushed pistachios
2 tablespoons minced chives
Salt and Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons pistachio oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons crushed pistachios
2 tablespoons minced chives
Salt and Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Blend together the first four ingredients. (I used a bullet
blender because nothing emulsifies a salad dressing like a bullet blender.) Stir in the pistachios, chives, and salt and pepper to taste. This
recipe can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled, well, you get the picture. It's
delicious, so trust me you're going to want to make as much as possible.
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