hhgregg leslie

Making a great salad starts with perfectly fresh produce. Certainly it’s not always possible to purchase and prepare the same day, but thanks to sophisticated refrigerators, it is possible to keep lettuce fresh for several days.

When you return from the store, gently wash your lettuces and lay them between paper towels. Loosely roll up the towels and put the wrapped lettuce into a plastic bag. Store in the vegetable or produce drawer of your refrigerator. The drawer was designed to maintain an optimum temperature and humidity level for your greens. Drawers can usually be adjusted. Be sure it is at the appropriate setting, check your owner’s manual.

When it’s time to prepare the salad, ingredients are up to the preferences of you and your family. But a great finish will always depend on the perfect dressing. Classic vinaigrette is always a good choice, but cooks often complain about the dressing separating before its poured on the salad. Cook’s Illustrated testers reported on a secret ingredient to end this problem, which they say occurs because,

They tested three emulsifying agents: mustard, egg yolk and mayonnaise. To find out which one held the vinaigrette together the longest, try their classic vinaigrette recipe below.

Foolproof Vinaigrette
Makes about ¼ cup, enough for 8 to 10 cups lightly packed greens

1 tablespoon wine vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons very finely minced shallot
½ teaspoon regular or light mayonnaise (the winner!)
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Combine vinegar, shallot, mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper to taste in a small nonreactive bowl. Whisk until mixture is milky in appearance and no lumps of mayonnaise remain. Place oil in small measuring cup so that it is easy to pour. Whisking constantly, very slowly drizzle oil into vinegar mixture. If pools of oil are gathering on surface as you whisk, stop addition of oil and whisk mixture well to combine, then resume whisking in oil in a slow stream.

Fine Lines carries many lines of sophisticated refrigeration solutions including Thermador, Sub-Zero and GE Monogram. Visit a Fine Lines to learn more.