Melange Persailotte Vinaigrette

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Let me start this post out by saying, this was supposed to be a quick article about salad dressing. My husband is always encouraging me to pursue my passion and asks me what I am passionate about. I always tell him, I have no idea.

Well, upon starting to write about salad dressing, I think I found it. I love salad dressing. I love it. I use it on everything. I make my own, I order it from restaurants to go, I buy it from the store. We can crush multiple Brianna's salad dressings a week (if you mix the Creamy Balsamic with the Vinaigrette Italian, it's like wow), Buzz's buttermilk ranch to go was an eye opening experience and no one has anything on Wing Stop ranch. But on top of all of that, I still love to make my own salad dressing.

From ranch in a pinch to my trusty, oh my gosh, did I really go through yet another jar of Grey Poupon in a week so now the jar is empty time to make dressing in it. I have no idea where this recipe came from. Granted, it's a vinaigrette, so there is not much reinventing of the wheel here but I swear, the Persailotte in this recipe makes it something special.

Also, life cannot be lived without Grey Poupon. That, I think, is another things that really sets salad dressing apart. Does is have Grey Poupon in it?

My husband claims to not like Grey Poupon, but I put it in everything and he loves everything I make. I know this because he tells me he will clap when it is not good because that in itself will be an accomplishment. Me making bad food. Which I think is very generous on his part because I have for sure made things that are not great. For example, this one meat loaf.

But Grey Poupon, grey poupon is the savior and life giver to all foods. It makes everything great. This one time, I was at Costco, spending a decent amount of time debating whether to buy the combo pack of two large glass jars of Grey Poupon. I had a moment of weakness and decided not to. About an hour later, I was at the grocery store and just as I walked out, a homeless man approached me.

He walked right up to me and yelled, "Do you have any Grey Poupon!?"

My mind went blank, the universe had caught me. I didn't have any Grey Poupon!

All I could say in a shocked and mostly mortified way because I had been so close to being able to actually meet this man's need!

"No I don't." I said panicked, weekly, and ashamed.

Talk about conviction! I had my chance and I missed it.

My mom was standing next to me laughing. "You should have bought the Grey Poupon."

One thing that I love in life, is salad. I love salad. I love ordering salad. Some of my favorite meals here on the island, are salad.

So let's start with salad basics. Olive Garden. So you're going to notice something about me here, in addition to loving salad, I love Italian food chains. Love them. I can totally get behind going to fancy Italian, but I love myself a good Italian chain. Even when they aren't fantastic, they are fantastic to me.

So Olive Garden, we didn't have on in Hawaii up until about two weeks ago. So every time we went to the mainland, we went. The breadsticks, the unlimited salad, the pepperochini, the andes mint at the end. Now, over the years, the breadstick recipe has definitely changed and we even had an unfortunate incident with marinara (not with quality, but quantity) but I still go back. For the salad. When Hood was in pilot training, I had nothing to do during the day. So, I would go to Olive Garden, and eat unlimited salad by myself. Even with the profit margin on salad, they made no money.

I like to keep the bagged iceberg lettuce on had, a jar of pepperoncinis, red onion, Parmesan cheese, and the Costco size of their Italian dressing on hand... for a quick snack.

In eighth grade, they opened a Buca di Beppo here in Hawaii. And it was really big deal. Like, I remember when we got a Starbucks, I think I was in fifth grade, and people went nuts. So Buca di Beppo opened in this new development downtown and it was always packed. You could never go. It was such a treat to even get in. We, I went for my birthday and there, I discovered the first truly memorable salad of my life... after Olive Garden of course. The Buca di Beppo Mixed Green Salad is simple yet incredible. I can eat the family portion by myself. There really isn't much to it. It has lettuce, red onion and dressing. And, in my opinion, this salad is perfect. The dressing is perfect. It makes it what it is.

Since that time, my sister-in-law worked for Buca di Beppo. And again, it's like, who cares, it's Buca di Beppo, it's a chain, whatever. Well, I have to say, Buca di Beppo puts a lot more into their food than you might imagine. They use pretty darn good ingredients and they make everything fresh.... so I mean, that's pretty cool. I mean, we had our engagement party there and she had custom ordered all our pastas and it was truly incredible. The salad was there and it was perfect. And now I have an insider to get me my salad fix whenever I need.

I have tried recreating this salad dressing many times. I know what olive oil they use, I tried every copycat recipe online. It's just not the same.

So before Buca and before Olive Garden, there was Bravos. Whoever created this place should be sainted. Bravos is everything you want a restaurant to be. Great service, not expensive, good food the comes fast. And I mean fast. I took Hood there one day before a business meeting and he was worried our food would take too long. It came out within the the seven minutes that all restaurants yearn for. And not because they just microwave it. Everything they make is made from scratch. They make their pasta from scratch. You can modify anything you like.

So let's take about their Garden Salad. It has garbanzo beans which as a kid, I always asked for on the side but now love for the texture and extra protein, fresh tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, olives, and crisp lettuce. Pretty standard. You order the salad and they ask you two questions, what size do you want, half or full? Full, duh. And what dressing would you like. House vinaigrette, every time. Their house vinaigrette is like nothing else. It's incredible. I have no clue what it is, or what is in it. The closest I can get is some red wine vinegar, a little cream, and perhaps canola oil. Dang, you have to try it, I can't get enough.

My lastest salad experiences is a little bit closer to home. Years ago, they opened a place called Aloha Salads in my town. Okay whatever, I mean I like the concept, but all you really doing is being scammed to pay 20 bucks for a salad with less toppings than you want. Well, one of the silver linings of the pandemic is right here. A friend of mine was over and telling me about how her and her husband cut out carbs for dinner during the pandemic as they were "moving" less. Sounds reasonable to me as I sit here in stretch pants....

So, to combat the carbs, they had started eating salads for dinner. One of their go to's was grabbing a salad to go from Aloha Salads. "Yeah but that place is so expensive for not much," I said (foolishly). She looked at me like I had two heads. "You haven't been there? No, you should try it, it's really good."

So, I was busy the next week and needed a quick bite. I ordered on my phone and my life was changed. I converted. Aloha Salads is incredible. And it's not just one salad, it's like all their salads. You can make your own, but why? They had a delightful list of preset options and each ones comes with their own special salad dressing. And omg. They are all, so so good. Aloha salads, yes.

I almost forgot the most important part of this blog post: tarragon vinegar. Okay, so a lot of people dont really care for tarragon. I get that, but at the same time, I really don't. Have you ever had Tarragon chicken? Like, if you want to make an easy dinner to blow someone away, tarragon chicken is where you need to go. Tarragon is one of those ingredients that really transforms into greatness when used right. Or wrong even.

For my bachelorette, I went to California. My sister lives in LA and before driving out to Santa Barbara, we went to lunch. Everyone, except apparently me, knew about this place called Republique. It's like the place to go. I, shockingly, had been under a rock, but they took me there because it was French and as we all know, I like France. The place is super cute. Perhaps cute isn't the right word because they have like 30+ft ceilings but it really is stunning. Whoever designed it, bravo. Very authentic in an LA sort of way. I took Hood there once and he proceeded to order $100 worth of pastries because he couldn't choose, and then ate them all, right there, sitting in front of the restaurant.

So we go, I look at the menu, too many good choices, but I finally settle on the salad (there's a shocker) with tarragon vinaigrette. The world stopped spinning that day. What was tarragon vinegar and why had I never tried it before until this point. Mind blowing delicious. Life changing cooking moment.

So, I went back to Hawaii to look for Tarragon vinegar. Nothing, in fact, to this day, I still can't find it here. I have to order from amazon to replenish my stock or ask a mainland visitor to bring it, but it can be hard to find. In fact, thank God I got married soon after that trip and moved to Wichita Falls, Texas and found Market Fresh who by some stroke of luck carried it. It's even a bit more expensive on Amazon because this stuff is like gold. Apparently, Heinz tarragon vinegar is their least acidic vinegar, making it smooth and oh so good with just the right amount of kick.

Back when I was living in France, when you travel around the country, you'll notice a couple of things. First, a lot of dishes come with a little side salad. Second, they never ask you which dressing you would like. Why? Well, it's France and they know better than to let you, the novice, choose your own dressing for a meal they have expertly prepared (this is the difference between Subway and Quiznos. As my old boss told me, Subway, you're left to your own devices, which can be good, but at Quiznos, you have professionals making a sandwich decision for you.)

Each region, just as they have their own wine, has their own regional salad dressing. Sorry lovers of "French Dressing." In each region they make dressing one way, in another region they do it differently. The point of this is to say that they make their own dressing.

I had a friend in Paris who I occasionally cooked with. She was mortified to find premade dressing in my refrigerator. Quelle horreur! She was a probably right. Why buy some salad dressing industriel when you can make your own with glorious ingredients. Add a good homemade dressing to some fresh mâche lettuce. Wow.

It was around that time that I discovered another glorious and life changing ingredient: Persaillotte.

So I haven't talked about this too much on this blog but the shallot is really an amazing ingredient. Paired with that tarragon chicken from above and you are set. But really, shallots are little bits of heaven. Raw, pickled, sautéed, fried. They only get better the more you do with them. Earlier this year I discovered that the islands chef store carries these big bags of shallots. Best buy of 2020. I made everything with shallots and everything was better for it. One day I found this recipe for shallot chicken and was excited to make it. Even when the recipe called for 20 shallots, something that might scare anybody off, I was unfazed and prepared.

So Melange Persallotte. It's a French inspired seasoning blend of parsley, garlic, and shallot. Hence the name, with persil meaning parsley, ail meaning garlic, and échalote meaning shallot. It's like my name with Sean. Sean + Britt = Shit. Or you can do Sean + Brittany to what my sister affectionally calls us = Shitney. We go with Team Shit or BS and call it good.

But back to Melange Persailotte. Wow again. You really, can use melange persailotte in anything. It's a beautiful garnish and so good in cooking. A friend puts in lasagna, I put it in any sort of pasta, chicken, whatever. If something goes with onions and garlic, it's a perfect match. And let's be honest, most things go with onions and garlic.

Well, one day I was making some homemade salad dressing. I had my trusty almost done jar of Grey Poupon. My Aunt Sue really is a true hero in this one because she was the one who taught me the foundations of a good vinaigrette. She made one for me once and I think I drank it. I had some vinegar, acid, and now needed some herbage. I had some Persaillotte, I added that and again, the world moved.

Since that time, I had been using my Persaillotte sparingly. Like only for salad dressing. Because it really made it. Finally, I just stepped it up, opened a seasoning company, shameless plug for MarnMaria Spices & Herbs, and now I can have unlimited persailotte that is thumbs up amazing.

The salad dressing recipe has improved too. Hello tarragon vinegar. Just like your grandmothers cooking is better than your own, even though you are doing the same things, the same is true with this dressing.

Let me say again, I have no idea where this recipe came from. I definitely made it up but I can't remember if it was inspired or just came from making it a bunch of times. I know that canola oil is the secret but I have no idea why. A friend of mine came back from a fancy spa with a private chef raving about his salad dressing and then tried mine and she claimed mine was better.

All of this to say, salad dressing truly and apparently (I had no idea) holds a special place in my heart. This week alone, I made the Chipotle Copycat Honey Vinaigrette, which was excellent. Put that on taco salad and then on eggs the next morning. That was a win. And then also this week, in a moment of true achievement, I finished not the small jar but the large jar of Grey Poupon. Going big on making salad dressing today! So I made my favorite, go to recipe.

Key things to remember here, don't forget the salt and don't forget a little bit of sugar. Ratio is general 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil. Olive oil can get bitter if you shake it too much. Use whatever citrus you have, they all make it taste a little bit different and they all make it taste great. Enjoy!

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