Walnut oil salad dressing

One of the many culinary skills I learned from my uncle is how to make an excellent salad dressing.  It’s simple to make as long as you have a few basic ingredients – walnut oil, vinegar, salt, and garlic – and since it lasts a long time in a jar in the refrigerator, I make a lot at once so I always have plenty of dressing on hand.

I especially love the faint nuttiness of walnut oil; when there are so few ingredients, it’s important that each one is of the best quality and very flavorful.  For the vinegar, I generally use champagne vinegar, though it would be equally good to use white wine, red wine, or sherry vinegar.  

I prefer my dressing on the vinegary side, so I use 1/4 cup of vinegar to 1 1/2 cups of oil, and I also like plenty of garlic, so I add three cloves (or sometimes even four).

• Dijon mustard or dry mustard
• Anchovies, minced nearly to a paste
• Herbs, such as thyme
• Freshly ground black pepper

You’ll never find a bottle of store-bought salad dressing in my refrigerator – instead, there’s always a jar of this.  Whenever I make a salad, or want to dress up some vegetables, I pull this out and add a few spoonfuls.

Walnut oil salad dressing
1 1/2 cups walnut oil
1/4 cup champagne vinegar (or less, for a milder flavor)
3 cloves garlic (adjust as desired)
1 tsp salt


Put garlic through press, or mince, and combine with oil.  

Meanwhile, put vinegar in a jar with at least 2 cup capacity, and dissolve salt into it by stirring or swirling.

Add oil and garlic mixture, and shake jar vigorously until dressing is emulsified.

Serve with a spoon, to ensure that some of the garlic is included (it tends to settle quickly) and to avoid over-dressing.