I can’t claim the brains behind this one. Little miss five year old wasn’t too satisfied with my delicious lemon-mint dressing one night at dinner. She requested I make her a different kind – a DELICIOUS kind. Well, what could be more delicious than the current fresh fruit pickings in the yard? Naturally, cherry dressing. Brilliant idea!
We picked a day to showcase cherry dressing at the dinner table. When said dinner time arrived and dressing was needed, it was pouring rain! That didn’t matter to her, or even to me, quite frankly. The cherries were beckoning!
Have you ever gone out in the rain, and just looked around? Looked closely? I’m glad we picked cherries in the rain. It was breathtaking.
Ok, so back to dressing. I don’t do a lot of measuring in the kitchen. But this is just dressing. You’re not going to miss something and pull a rock-hard brick out of the oven. It’s just dressing. Dump, toss, pour, mix, taste and tweak! Be creative!
To bring this head of lettuce from the garden to entree level, we topped it with more cherries, salmon, finely grated cheddar and raw pumpkin seeds. Delish!
Fresh Cherry Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- cherries, a small bowl full (approx 2 cups). Ours are a tart cherry, but any will be divine
- olive oil, a 3-4 second pour, depending on how thick you like your dressing
- garlic, a few cloves
- chives / scallions, one handful chopped up
- vinegar: think sweeter – balsamic, red or white wine vinegars
- salt, a couple pinches
Instructions
- Remove stems and pit the cherries. Kitchen tip: No cherry pitter? Use a chopstick to pop the pits out the other end!
- Toss all the ingredients into your blender or food processor on high. Whiz until creamy!
- Taste and tweak. We found ours was perfect at the first go, but perhaps you want more salt, more garlic, a dash of lemon juice if it doesn’t feel bright enough…
- A note about vinegars – all three of the listed options will work. If you opt for balsamic, you will get a deeper, bold flavor. Red wine vinegar will be medium to taste, and white wine vinegar will make a much bright, sweeter dressing.
