I looked through the Via Carota cookbook I got as an ebook loan from my library … if I were in NYC, I’d love to try their Italian restaurant, very FRESH vegetable forward! Their vinaigrette ingredients:
1 shallot, finely chopped (1/4 cup) (rinsed with cold water, drained)
1 grated garlic clove
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 stems fresh thyme
1/4 cup aged sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons warm water
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
I was confused about the amount of thyme: I just looked into the directions and it specified:
1 teaspoon thyme! Whew!
Anyway, the photo of their salad looks terrific. I’m going to up my salad techniques!
Don’t despair, you may like it. Maybe halve the recipe just in case. I don’t have the cookbook. I saw it on the internet, everyone was raving about it. I love thyme, I use it in my regular vinaigrette and many other things.
I made a very similar vinaigrette last summer I think via food52 that I used on some CSA kale. I believe I substituted champagne vinegar, and I let it sit overnight. My kiddos devoured it. I think I used 3 sprigs of thyme I will be making it again when kale graces our CSA bin again.
I like a goodly amount of shallot in my vinaigrette, tho I temper its bite with my vinegar of choice & a sprinkle of salt before adding the other ingredients.
I do find a tiny splash of water kinda mellows/rounds out the vinaigrette, but it’s certainly not necessary.
It’s interesting that the ingredient list you posted differs from the recipe posted with the NYT article that made the salad famous. More oil, less vinegar, 2 kinds of mustard.
(Food52 has your book version without mustard, but I’d imagine it tastes very different, quite odd (though comments are positive). They measure the thyme as 1tsp. (Only 1/4c if the resulting vinaigrette is used for the salad.)
I’m assuming this is the recipe I used since it is the one I bookmarked. It has been several years since I made it, so I don’t really remember why I didn’t care for it. I only remember that it lingered in the fridge for ages.
ETA: I just remembered, one time I was looking for a dressing recipe that I liked in my bookmarks and I mistakenly thought it was the Via Carota. I made another batch only to discover I now had two batched. After a few attempts to fix them, they both eventually ended up down the drain.
I would make Samin’s version, given the mustards and the honey.
Try a quarter portion (so as not to waste a cup of olive oil if you don’t like it), but the balance of ingredients reads right to me.
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ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
18
Thanks for this!
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ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
19
Same. Mustard gives dressings a moreish quality (as well as helps with emulsion and offers texture) - and honey will help balance the sharpness. Please report back!
I decided to use the book recipe but added ½ teaspoon each of two mustards and a pinch of salt. I ran out of my good Spanish sherry vinegar so added some raspberry vinegar. Used sugar, not honey. Because endive is so bitter, I think dressing needs some honey. Not exactly like the photo in the book … I’m making it just for me tonight.
