The first of this year’s in-season strawberries are about to hit the stores. For me, that means it’s time to use them any way I can! One of my favorite ways to use strawberries is to make a strawberry vinaigrette salad dressing. Your best bet is to use fresh berries in this recipe. However, if you still have last season’s frozen berries to use up, that’s also an option. Just defrost them in a mixing bowl (the yummy strawberry juice may run a little bit – don’t discard it, use it!) and substitute them for the fresh berries.
This vinaigrette tastes great with any salad, but my favorite is one that includes arugula, goat cheese, candied walnuts, and fresh strawberries. It also makes a great marinade for chicken! Just pour the vinaigrette over six boneless, skinless chicken breasts in an 8 x 8 baking dish, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for a minimum of two hours. Pat chicken dry using paper towels, and cook as usual (I like to grill my chicken but you can also broil or bake it). This recipe is enough for about six pieces of chicken.
Ingredients
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
2/3 cup vinegar of choice (I like balsamic vinegar)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon strawberry jam
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup light olive oil
Instructions
Blender
Gently mash the strawberries with a fork in a small mixing bowl. Add them and the vinegar to a blender and pulse with the cover on until ingredients are well combined. Add sugar, strawberry jam, honey, Dijon mustard, and salt and pulse again with the cover on. Remove the cover, set the blender on low, and add the olive oil in a slow stream. Cover again and blend on medium until it’s emulsified, or uniform in appearance.
Food Processor
If you decide to use a food processor instead of a blender, add all the ingredients at once and pulse until everything is well mixed.
By Hand
If you decide to mix the dressing by hand, add the strawberries and vinegar to a mixing bowl. Cover and let sit for an hour before mashing. Add to a wide mouthed mason jar with the other ingredients and shake until well combined. Let stand for at least an hour before serving.
Storage
If you don’t plan to use the vinaigrette right away, store it in a tight container such as a Mason jar or sealed salad dressing cruet in the refrigerator for up to a week. Before using, let stand for about a half hour at room temperature. Olive oil solidifies in the refrigerator when cold. To avoid this, you can substitute the olive oil for canola oil, which doesn’t turn into a solid in the refrigerator.
Variations
This recipe calls for strawberries, but you can use just about any berry you wish. Keep all the amounts the same, just swap out the type of berry and the type of jam. You can eliminate the jam all together if you wish, just as add another teaspoon of honey to make up for it.