I think a French Vinaigrette is the very first salad dressing recipe I learned to make properly. When I say “properly”, I mean more than just drizzling a squeeze of lemon juice and olive oil over greens. Which there’s nothing wrong with doing, and I still certainly do that! I mean actually making a real proper salad dressing. I think this was my first. 🙂
The thing many people may not know about French Salad Dressings is that it keeps really well for up to 2 weeks. Yes it has eschalots (the small onions, also known as French shallots in Australia, or shallots in America). But it continues to flavour the dressing for around 2 weeks, and it doesn’t go bad. Unlike garlic which does. Very important cooking trivia – fresh garlic, once chopped or minced, goes bad after a few days and can cause a nasty form of food poisoning called botulism. I’m referring here to raw garlic. Cooked and dried garlic is ok. Query store bought garlic – I’m not entirely sure but would personally not risk it. So because a classic French Vinaigrette does not have garlic in it, it’s fine to keep! And unlike garlic, eschalots and onion keep for weeks in oil. 🙂 So this French Vinaigrette will be just as tasty as the day you made it for up to 2 weeks. Beyond this I find the eschalots lose flavour power, but it’s still a tasty dressing. This French Vinaigrette goes in my bucket of “recipes that everyone should know”. Definitely a classic to keep! – Nagi x
Don’t miss all the other Ready To Use Dressings I shared! These all last for 2+ weeks, most for 3 weeks.Find them all here.
