This recipe is very near and dear to my heart. My mom used to make this every time she cooked dinner, which was often, so we had a side salad with our meal. It’s a very garlicy Italian dressing, that depending on the balsamic vinegar you use, can also taste pretty sweet. She also used a tsp of sugar in her recipe, but I substituted honey. The balsamic vinegar and honey give this recipe a nice sweet and sour flavor, and the garlic adds a spicy note.
In this photo, I’m using this dressing as a marinade for some veggies for an antipasto salad I’m making for dinner. I chopped up some roasted red peppers, peppadews, green and black olives, and artichoke hearts and I’m going to let all the flavors develop before I assemble the salad with the remaining ingredients: wild arugala, salami, and prosciutto. Here is the full recipe for the antipasto salad as promised.
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 2 large cloves of garlic, pressed (use 3 if on the smaller side)
- Mix ingredients together in a jar with lid.
- With the lid on, shake then serve over your favorite Italian salad.