Dorie Greenspan's Mustard Bottle Vinaigrette

When food icons have food blogs, you need to read them.

That's certainly true of Dorie Greenspan's blog. Her posts, like Dorie herself, are wise, witty and warm. And they're full of good advice--like where to get pastries in Paris or how to whip up begger's linguine--but the advice that's stuck with the most was her advice, last April, to use the last remnants of mustard in the jar to make a vinaigrette.

It's such a simple idea. You have an almost-empty jar of mustard:

You have a killer salad that needs dressing:

[Yes, I slow-roasted those cherry tomatoes.]

If you're Dorie, you add wine vinegar and olive oil in a ratio of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil. You also add a pinch of salt and pepper.

If you're me, you decide to go Balsamic; add a big splash of it, along with an egg yolk, so everything gets creamy:

Then you add your olive oil--big glugs of it--then you screw the lid on and you shake like your life depended on it. What you wind up with is a wonderful dressing:

And your salad is oh so happy:

Thank you Dorie Greenspan, for this wonderful tip!

I'm headed to California tomorrow, but if I weren't, I'd be making my way up to Dorie's CookieBar for some outrageous looking cookies. If you live in New York, make sure to go and have a cookie for me.