Maple Walnut Vinaigrette – An All-American Dressing

Okay, so I guess the word, "vinaigrette" isn't the most American of terms, but despite conforming to current culinary nomenclature, this is a true American original. Maple syrup, indigenous to North America, has been used as a sweetener since the first Europeans set foot in New England.

While I love maple syrup in all types of sweet recipes, here it really shines in a savory application. This maple walnut vinaigrette recipe comes from Veronica Callaghan and her blog, Super Market Serenade. She used it to dress a green bean salad, but this subtly sweet vinaigrette would be wonderful on any type of greens.

By the way, this maple walnut dressing recipe calls for sherry vinegar. Whenever I post a recipe that has sherry vinegar in it, I get questions about substituting other vinegars, like sherry vinegar is some sort of exotic, hard to find item. It's not!

It's right there on your large supermarket's vinegar shelf, probably next to the balsamic. You need to have a bottle of this wonderful vinegar in your pantry, so use this delicious dressing recipe as you excuse to get some. Enjoy!

Photo (c) Veronica Callaghan