Farmer’s Market Salad with Garlic Vinaigrette
Serves 2 to 4
When Alice Waters makes a salad, you pay attention. “One of the
failings of salad,” she says as she combines garlic pounded with a
pestle in a mortar with her homemade vinegar, “is sometimes it’s
too oily.” She adds a small amount of olive oil to her dressing, way
less than you might guess, and then spoons it over a salad made
with shaved farmer’s-market vegetables and mesclun from her
backyard. She constantly tastes and adjusts the dressing with salt,
more vinegar, more oil. “Stick your fingers in it,” she tells me so I
can taste it too. Needless to say, the dressing matters slightly less
than the vegetables; use the very best you can get (this is the salad
to make after a trip to the farmer’s market).1 clove garlic
Kosher salt
Red wine vinegar (preferably homemade*)
Balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
Any combination of purple, orange, and yellow carrots
Any combination of radishes
1 or 2 white turnips