By Leslie Hoffman

I am a nut about making my own fresh salad dressing; I don’t have a single “store bought” bottle of it in my refrigerator. Right now, I’m obsessed with the luxurious, warm flavor of walnut oil, and have been incorporating it into a version of my basic recipe to dress a salad of spring greens and crisp, bitter French endive — one of my favorite early spring vegetables!

Yield: Two servings

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons white or
Champagne vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon walnut oil

Directions:

Combine the dijon mustard, the vinegar, the minced garlicclove, and the lemon juice.

Add in the oil.

Use it to dress an endive salad:

1 cup mixed spring greens or baby romaine
1 French endive, sliced thinly into circles
1/4 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
Goat cheese, to taste