Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

This vinaigrette is very versatile, and very crowd-pleasing.  Soon, I’ll share my version of the pasta salad recipe from which it hails, and I’ll tell you what a picky crowd it was served to (with great success).  Honestly, I don’t even like most vinaigrettes, and I love this stuff.

One of my favorite non-pasta salad uses of this is with coleslaw.  I never thought I liked coleslaw, but it turns out I just don’t like coleslaw that’s drowning in mayonnaise.  I do like coleslaw that’s got a light mayo sauce or, even better, this kind of tasty vinaigrette.

One thing, though – I stored it in an emptied out olive oil bottle, as pictured, but it’s really too thick for that.  I had to turn the bottle upside down and beat the heck out of it to get the vinaigrette out.  I’d recommend storing it in tupperware or any other non-bottle storage container.

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen; makes 1 – 1 1/2 cups

• 1 roasted red pepper (roasted using the method described here, which takes about an hour, plus cooling time)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 TBSP red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 TBSP chopped shallot (from 1 small to medium shallot)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Big pinch freshly ground black pepper or medium grind black pepper

Peel and seed the roasted red pepper and place the flesh of the pepper in the food processor (leaving behind the liquid that comes out when you roast it).  Puree until smooth (in actuality, it will be a little chunky, but it won’t look like a red pepper anymore).  Add the other ingredients and turn the processor back on, processing until the mixture is smooth.  Taste the mixture and adjust the seasonings if necessary.

Store in the fridge for up to a week.  Adding shallots (or, worse, garlic) to a vinaigrette reduces its shelf life, so you can’t leave it in your fridge for weeks and weeks on end like you could with some simpler homemade vinaigrettes.