House Vinaigrette {dijon vinaigrette}

A few years ago, upon relocation to Paris, I began ingesting a lot of salads. It was just easy. It was hot, I lived by myself (well, with Pug, of course) and at least for the first couple weeks, I didn’t do much entertaining at the apartment because I didn’t really know anyone. On the occasional Saturday night I would take the time to cook myself something special but for the most part, the easiest thing to do was to stop by the Monoprix and the vegetable stand and buy the materials necessary for une belle salade composée chez moi. I had been a huge fan of their vinaigrette nature (and still am) but got a bit sick of it and decided I needed to not only control my intake of oil (save those calories for brie, mes amis) but also figure out how to make my own vinaigrette. And as such, my salad dressing was born. For a while I would add some herbes de Provence, but now, I generally just stick to the basics.

A good segue, I think, to share the ingredients with you:

• 1-2 cloves garlic, peeled in this most awesome way and minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced shallot
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 3/4 cup olive oil (or less if you’re vinegary like me)
• pinch of salt and pepper

Grab a cruet or a mason jar or whatever you’ve got on hand and dump.

And shake.

And voila.