Create Your Own Salad with Panache

Erin Wade's special dressing recipes are sure to whet your appetite.

Spinach Mushroom salad “with Seared Diver Scallops”
Asian Beef salad
Beet soup
The bar at Vinaigrette
Wade designed the look of her restaurant, as well as its food.
Erin Wade's farm in Nambé, New Mexico, a hamlet 20 miles north of Santa Fe
Wade raises about 70 percent of Vinaigrette’s produce on her own land, and whatever happens to be thriving inspires her salad creations.
Wade with one of her composting pigs, which recycle all the restaurant’s food waste
Composting piglets on Wade's farm
Fresh baby lettuce, ready for its close-up
Wade tends her three-acre garden, with a 1,200-square-foot greenhouse with help from one other gardener.

At Vinaigrette, Erin Wade’s 68-seat salad bistro in Santa Fe, a good dressing—complete with fresh ingredients—is a must-have accompaniment for her culinary creations. Farmer, chef, and owner of Vinaigrette, Wade ’03 is profiled in Harvard Magazine’s November-December Montage section and shares her secrets for two top-notch salad-dressing recipes below, as well as additional photos (see above) of menu offerings, the restaurant, and life on her 10-acre farm. Whether you are throwing a last-minute dinner party, want to impress your significant other, or crave a gourmet salad for one, Wade’s recipes can help you whip up a perfect dressing.

Champagne Vinaigrette

2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ cup champagne vinegar
2 tsp. creamy dijon mustard
¾ cup to 1 cup canola-olive oil blend

Combine all ingredients except the oil.  Then add oil in a slow and steady stream, whisking to emulsify.

Cumin Lime Vinaigrette 

2 cloves garlic
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 ½ tsp. of cumin powder
¼ cup lime juice
2 tsp. finely diced shallot
1 tbsp. honey
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

Make a paste with the garlic and salt and then add remaining ingredients, except EVOO. Slowly stream in olive oil, whisking constantly to emulsify.

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