Cherry Vinaigrette

It might be hard to believe that cherries are one of my absolute favourite fruits given the almost complete lack of any cherry recipes here. Thing is, I love them so much I just want to eat them - using them in a recipe feels like a waste! 

That being said I bought a little *too* many cherries a while back (yes, even for me!) and looked into some recipes to make with them. As I'm dieting at the moment I didn't want to go down the sweet route and came across this cherry vinaigrette recipe.

I made a few personal changes and came up with this - it's lovely! A really sharp vinaigrette with just a hint of cherry taste, that little bit of sweetness from the cherries a real nice complement. I tend to always stick to my all time favourite balsamic dressing for most things but this will be a welcome summer addition :-)

Cherry Vinaigrette

• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 tsp syrup - I use light Sweet Freedom, light agave or maple syrup can be used instead

• 60g or 1/3 cup washed, pitted and chopped sweet cherries

• ½ tsp Dijon mustard

• 1/8 tsp salt

• freshly ground black pepper - I used 3 grinds

Add all to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour through a sieve to remove any bits and that's it! Recipe makes a fairly small amount but it's quite a strong dressing, only a little is needed :-)

Now, I'm only blogging the dressing here as really, I like it just with crisp bright green leaves of romaine but cherries and walnuts go beautifully together! Whatever salad you choose to have this with, I highly recommend adding some toasted walnuts....a crumbling of the baked almond feta wouldn't go amiss either :-)

Mixed Greens, Toasted Walnuts and Cherry Vinaigrette

♥

Nutritional Information: per 100g of dressing.

Calories: 593

Protein: 0.9g

Fat: 60.2g

Sat Fat: 8.6g

Fibre: 1.8g

Carbs: 19.4g

Sugar: 16.6g

Sodium: 501.5mg