Strawberry Vinaigrette + Simple Salad

Okay, I know this may sound tedious, but I promise this is the base to so many wonderful strawberry vinaigrettes, cocktails, desserts, and more! Plus, isn't it so worth it to have a base that doesn't require refined sugar? In the chef world, we call this base a strawberry consomme. It is a way of concentrating the flavor of strawberries while keeping the fresh strawberry taste that we all know and love when we bite directly into the berry. Think of it as straight strawberry liquid gold!

I make this strawberry vinaigrette almost every week during the spring and summer seasons, it's that good. I absolutely love the strawberry combined with the ginger and champagne vinegar. It's light, refreshing and perfect for a simple salad.

What else would you like us to make with this strawberry liquid gold? Sound off in the comment section below!

Makes 1 cup

Ingredients:

For the Consomme:

16 oz strawberries, stems removed, quartered

Just enough water to to cover the strawberries

1 large bowl** bowl should fit just barely inside the pot, to act as a double boiler

1 medium pot

Plastic wrap

Mesh strainer

For the Vinaigrette:

½ tsp microplaned ginger

3 T strawberry consomme

1 T Champagne vinegar

2 T Extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp dijon mustard

Season with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper

For the Simple Strawberry Salad:

1 head of butter leaf lettuce, leaves trimmed and left whole

8 strawberries, thinly sliced

½ english cucumber, thinly sliced

Instructions:

For the Consomme:

Fill a medium pot with a few inches of hot water and bring to a simmer.

While the water is being brought to a simmer, place the quartered strawberries in a large bowl and just barely cover with the berries with water.

Cover the bowl of strawberries tightly with plastic wrap.

Once the water is simmering, place the bowl on top of the pot and allow to gently steep the strawberries in the warm liquid (this allows the strawberry flavor to be extracted without harshly cooking the strawberries, giving you FRESH strawberry taste).

Allow to double boil for 2 hours (checking to make sure you always have a little water simmering under the bowl).

Turn off heat and allow the berries/water to come to room temperature.

Strain off the strawberries and you are left with the strawberry liquid gold!

You can now use this to flavor cocktails, frosting, or in this case, use as a base for a vinaigrette.

For the Vinaigrette/Salad:

Whisk together all of the vinaigrette ingredients until well incorporated.

Toss the butter lettuce with desired amount of vinaigrette and then stack the whole lettuce leaves on top of each other biggest to smallest.

Top with sliced strawberries and cucumbers.