I do what I call toss and dump....
I put my greens and whatever else ( tomatoes come later) into a bowl that has been rubbed with a garlic clove, and add a drizzle of EVOO and toss until every leaf is glistening....it helps if one person adds and another tosses.....then sprinkle on some sugar ( that is the clue...inspite of what a lot of people say, I get the most "ooh! Good!" remarks for a sweet dressing), salt and pepper a bit of vinegar....never white, often rice vinegar or cider and sometimes a bit of balsamic too....then your herbs....fresh is best....dried will do though...or none at all.
Toss....taste, add more salt of vinegar if needed....
Or you can make the dressing in a bottle....1/3 cup vinegar to 2/3rds cups oil, 1/2 tsp salt,2 tsps sugar ( or less or more, depending on your vingar) and add the pepper as you serve the salad.
But I also make a vinaigrette with a T. of Dijon as an emulsifier....or with 2 T of catsup....or some mayo....just a tad and crushed garlic...
experiment!
Linda C

Linda, your instructions are exactly what I was hoping for! I will try it tonight - thank you soooo much - I'm trying your first technique - Will will have fun being my helping hand.

Stacy

Ask the restaurant what type vinegar they use. That can make a difference.

Thanks Ginger - maybe they'll at least give me that much info, huh? :-)

Stacy

It wouldn't hurt to ask, especially if you get a nice waiter & don't ask for the exact recipe. LOL

Stacy, if it is not colored, they are probably using a white vinegar, a cider vineger or even a white balsamic.

Here it's standard in many restaurants to put the oil and vinegar cruet on the table so people can dress their own salads. A red wine vinegar is often used, but it doesn't look red when on the salad. The ratio is usually three times more oil than vinegar when making up your own dressing. Now balsamic is sometimes seen in the cruet set rather than red wine vinegar.

I agree with Linda that a bit of sugar can make a vinaigrette taste even better.

SharonCb

It's good with white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and a little sugar. I'm sure it would be good with champagne vinegar or one of the many flavored vinegars such as garlic or roasted pepper too.

I love salads, especially those with oil and vinegar dressings!

I second the sugar, and don't be afraid to add a lot...like tablespoons of it; It really is the key.

Also try adding some grated parmesan cheese to the dressing. It will thicken a little and add great taste.

I prefer veg. oil and red wine vinegar but there are so many different possiblilties with different mixtures.

Good cheese in the salad (like provel ropes) can do wonders too.

To make the most of the oil and vinegar dressings put everything (lettuce, dressing, etc) it in a bowl with a lid and gently shake to mix. It really seems to get all the leaves better (and taste better) than just a simple toss.

Many Italian rest. also put just a little anchovy paste in their dressings.

Here's a recipe (copycat?) for one of my favorite Italian Restaurant salads. It is really good!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cunetto's Salad

I'd like to share a great recipe of my late mom's. We grew up eating leaf lettuce fresh out of the garden with this dressing. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do. It's also great on potatoes and over cooked asparagus.

Siggie's Salad Dressing

1 cup mazola oil
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 clove of garlic, minced (or more)
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard

thanks everyone - I'm saving them all to try!

Stacy

I must be the only person that never puts sugar into her dressing, am I??

They may be using rice vinegar which is clear and very mild.

I don't put sugar in my vinaigrette dressings either.

I like sugar or honey in some of my vinaigrette (I checked the spelling on this one!). It depends on what I am putting it over or with as much as it does what I feel like at different times.

My favorite vinaigrettes are ones that use various different vinegars too, but I think the oil can be the star too. I like Walnut Oil very much. And, I like to mix oils. I will mix a rich fruity olive oil with a basic vegetable oil to get the flavor but not overpower my greens or whatever foods I am using the vinaigrette.

I have always thought that the basic portions for oil and vinegar was 2/3 oil and 1/3 vinegar. But, I will do whatever tastes best to me and sometimes that is the right mix and sometimes I will do a half and half.

I also like to mix mustards in my vinaigrettes. I like to add various herbs too. One of the best vinaigrettes I made was for a salad that had greens and fruit with nuts in it. I got wild and added feta cheese, buckwheat honey, and orange zest. It was wowzer for flavor!

I have added cilantro, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, lots and lots of sweet basil, (not all together, separate usually), and even added a bit of nutmeg and cinnamon with walnut oil and rice wine vinegar over a salad that had baby greens and tiny cream cheese/goat cheese balls in it.

My neighbor takes an envelope of Hidden Valley and does an oil and vinegar dressing with it and tosses in lots of chopped raw vegetables and everyone gobbles it up at our block party pot-lucks. It is really, really good!

I guess the trick is to know what you like and to maybe start with the rule of thumb that says, 1/3 volume of vinegar and 2/3 volume of oil.. whether that is in cups, teaspoons, or shot glasses as measuring tools!

I clicked on this Google hit hoping to find an authoritative, vinegar-to-oil formula for making a basic vinaigrette (regardless of the type of vinegar, from plain to fancy, and leaving aside spices, including sugar), but having perused the suggestions offered here, I can see that I will have to go elsewhere to find the answer. Linda C starts out suggesting a 1:2 ratio (1 part vinegar, 2 parts oil) while Sharon Cb suggests a 1:3 ratio ("three times more oil than vinegar"). dragonflylou seconds Sharon Cb (1/3 cup vinegar, 3/3 cup oil) while potpie seconds Linda C ("I have always thought that the basic portions for oil and vinegar [were]... 1/3 volume of vinegar and 2/3 volume of oil"). Yet no one, except for potpie, seems to have recognized that there is a vinegar-to-oil ratio conflict raging here.

I'm not gonna guess, so I'm heading elsewhere. I wish that people who contribute to such sites as this one would think a bit more seriously about what is being said... and not said!