Keep it simple...

That's the first rule of cooking.

Anyone who has watched the latest cookery programmes on telly must have heard this phrase. The presenters make it sound like a new prophecy!
Like reinventing the wheel!
Of course, things have to be kept simple or else you lose the plot.

There were many instances in the Seventies and Eighties, when over-zealous cooks misunderstood Nouvelle Cuisine, marrying totally unmixable ingredients together for the sake of presentation and ending up with unpalatable mix bound for the divorce courts!

























This post was prompted after I tweaked the vinaigrette at Casa.

Vinaigrette is the French for salad dressing and it comes from the word vinaigre (vinegar).
The original recipe is one quarter vinegar and three quarters oil. Salt and pepper are normally the only other ingredients.
My mother usually replaced the vinegar by lemon juice. This made her dressing taste a lot fresher.
The addition of any other ingredient is the cook's prerogative. Flavoured vinegars, mustards, herbs, etc... are all acceptable in the right measure.

Personally, I prefer the simple version. Here is how I prepare one portion of salad:
A large plastic bowl. One tbsp of olive oil, a pinch each of freshly ground sea salt and black pepper and the juice of a quarter of lemon.
All this before I add the salad ingredients. This is the only way one can tell how much dressing is used.
No need to mix, whisk or blend!
I just add the ingredients.
Tossing the salad is all one needs to cover the leaves with dressing. That is the reason for the large bowl.
My favourite side salad is a head of baby gems, a few slices of fresh fennel, a tsp of finely chopped red onion and that's about it.

Ready, steady, munch!