Pomegranate Vinaigrette

I'm quite fond of a good salad.  It seems that lettuce is almost always in season, and you can top it with whatever fruit or vegetable is also in season.  It's infinitely adaptable and open to improvisation.

Now salad dressing is another beast all together.  The bargain hunter in me loves that it's fairly easy to score free salad dressing using coupons.  The health conscious part of me cries out every time I buy bottled dressing, "Beware!  High fructose corn syrup!"  "Eek!  Preservatives!"  "OMG!  Artificial everything!"  "Hydrogenated Oils, oh my!"  

So I do like to make my own dressing.  It's really quite fast, as long as you already have all the ingredients on hand.  Simply measure them all into a mason jar, screw on a lid, and shake for about 10 seconds.  Presto!  Store in a fridge and use in the next week or two.  Easy enough, and also pretty darn cheap (well, at least compared to paying full price for dressing).

This dressing was inspired by an America's Test Kitchen Recipe.  Unfortunately, just about the only ingredient I had on hand was pomegranate juice.  So I made a bunch of substitutions, and it turned out great.  I've now made this twice in the last week (one bottle of pomegranate juice will make two batches if you don't guzzle the juice first!).  The recipe makes enough dressing for 2-3 large salads.  It's received rave reviews from everyone who has tried it.  I think you'll like it.  Another bonus is this recipe is extremely low in fat.  The reduced juice gives this dressing a wallop of flavor while minimizing the need for fat (only 2 Tbs oil in the whole recipe!).   

So let's make salad!  

Bring a couple cups of pomegranate juice to a simmer, and let it reduce by at least half:

While the juice is reducing, add the rest of your ingredients to a mason jar:

Let the reduced juice cool a bit, then add it to the mason jar and give it a shake:

Toss with your favorite green salad and enjoy!  Tonight I served this with a combo of spinach and romaine, topped with candied pecans, apple slices, and small chunks of sharp cheddar cheese (Beechers was on sale---love, love, love that stuff!).  I served mine up with some veggie enchiladas:

My two boys were quite happy with this dinner (Yes, that is antibiotics in the background.  Someone has an ear infection).  Now make yourself happy, and make this dressing!  

Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Inspired by America's Test Kitchen, but pretty much my recipe

2 cups Pomegranate Juice

3 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar

2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tbs Maple Syrup (you could use honey)

1 clove garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

Simmer juice in a small saucepan on the stove until reduced to about 2/3 of a cup.  The original recipe said this would take 25-35 minutes.  After 20 minutes I measured how much I had, and it was already down to about 1/2 a cup.  Worked out fine.  Don't stress it.  After juice has reduced, remove from heat and allow to cool.  Meanwhile, add remaining ingredients to a clean jar with a lid.  Add cooled juice to ingredients, seal tightly with lid, and shake until combined.  This will store in your fridge for at least a week or two.  Note that the olive oil may solidify when cooled in the fridge.  If you see yellow-ish chunks floating on the top of your refrigerated dressing, fear not!  Just allow the dressing to come to room temperature (you can speed up the process by running warm water over the jar), give it a little shake, and you're ready to go.