I’ve been overloaded with sweets this week. The kind of overload that normally occurs later in the year with the arrival of the holidays. All of the sugar has me wanting fresh greens whenever I can get them— I need to balance out this crazy diet of mine somehow. I was getting a little bored of my standard vinaigrette and thought I would start mixing it up a little with some variations on the classic.
This was inspired by a recipe in the much discussed final issue of Gourmet magazine. I don’t know what can be said about the closing of Gourmet that has not already been said. It feels like a real loss in my life. It has made me consider crazy things like fire-proof containers for my stack of past issues of Gourmet. I will continue to try recipes from past issues and I know from experience that I will be happy with almost all of them. This simple vinaigrette is typical of the elegant and useful recipes I found each month in Gourmet.
The recipe also reminded me that celery seeds are good. Why don’t we use them more often? I think one of my new year’s resolutions will be to use celery seeds regularly.
As an aside, a special thanks goes out to anyone who voted for Lottie + Doof as the best Chicago food blog [1] in New City’s annual contest. I was thrilled to learn that I was the audience favorite. For those of you with connections to Chicago, the whole list is a pretty enjoyable read.
Celery Seed Vinaigrette (adapted from Gourmet, November 2009)
- 1/2 garlic clove (or small garlic clove)
- 2 teaspoons celery seeds, toasted
- 1/2 teaspoon honey
- 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Mince and mash garlic with kosher salt to form a paste. Add celery seeds, honey, vinegar and oil and whisk until combined. Vinaigrette will keep for a day or two.