Basil Vinaigrette

I am a big fan of using herbs for seasoning rather than just salt and pepper. When I was a kid and had a much less refined palate, I absolutely hated basil for some reason. Then one day I was eating at a friend's house and she made a salad that tasted amazing. I asked her what was in the dressing because it was the best tasting salad I had ever had. She gave me the recipe and I was flabbergasted to see that the main ingredient was Basil; something that in the past that I avoided at all costs as it was the yuckiest thing on the planet. Basil quickly became one of my go to herbs. It does have a hard to define taste. Basil is a little peppery, with a hint of mint but more on the savoury side. I like to make the basil vinaigrette recipe my friend shared with me lo those many years ago. Thanks Michelle, I owe you one :P

Ingredients

One half cup of Basil leaves

Two Tablespoons Oil -

Two tablespoons Vinegar

Coarse Salt, pepper - To taste

Directions

Mix all in a blender. Blend until smoothe.

Notes

Now I have used fresh in this recipe as it tastes stronger. But whenever I am out of fresh basil, I replace the basil in this recipe with spinach and season to taste with dried basil. The taste is not as strong but the colour from the spinach makes it look exactly the same and the more dried basil you add the stronger the flavour.

For the oil, any light oil such as olive or canola will do in this recipe. You might even be able to get away with a balsamic oil as fresh basil has a very string taste. But I would only use one teaspoon of balsamic and use olive oil for the remainder of the oil as balsamic oil has a very strong flavour. You could do the same with sesame oil as well.

If you do go with spinach in place of the fresh basil, you could add more balsamic or sesame oil as the flavour will be a bit muted using dried basil for this recipe.

I have used this recipe as a general salad dressing, but sometimes, I have made an appetiser from this vinaigrette. I cut a medium tomato into wedges or slices. I place the cut tomatoes onto crackers (usually gluten free rice crackers). Then I placed thinly sliced goat cheese rounds on top of the tomatoes. I then drizzle the vinaigrette over top and season to taste with coarse salt and pepper. It goes over quite well.

Another thing I have done with this vinaigrette is make a savoury smoothie. I have a hard time eating fruit as I have oral allergy syndrome. If the fruit that I eat is force ripened (and most fruit where I live is) I sometimes react to fruit as if it is an allergen. The best way I can explain it is that the starch in the fruit normally goes from a starch to a sugar. IN under ripened fruit or force ripened fruit the starch has not fully converted and when I eat fruit that isnt fully ripened, I ingest those starches and my body thinks that the starch is pollen and I react to it as if it is an allergen. So when I make a smoothie, I usually opt for a vegetable based smoothie and not one with fruits in it. I fill up my blender with greens and then add vegetables such as celery, cucumber and pretty much anything you would find in a vegetable cocktail and then add some of this vinaigrette to taste.