Mesclun Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

I made a mesclun salad the other day. My husband was like, "what?" after I told him the name of the salad. For some reason, I prefer difficult names when describing my food... makes it sound more legit or something. Anyways, even though I wanted to sound "professional" in my description of the salad, I had no clue what "mesclun" meant myself... so I skipped on over to wikipedia and here's what it says...

Mesclun is a salad mix of assorted small, young salad leaves which originated in Provence, France. The traditional mix includes chervil, arugula, leafy lettuces, endive, spinach, raddichio and/or other leaf vegetables.

The name mescla means "to mix" and literally means "mixture".

So there... we all know what it means now.

It kind of has a funny story behind it. My sweet hubby hardly ever goes to the grocery. I'm the crazy foodie and I sort of ummm, like control over my food shopping. Sooo, it's hard for me to hand that over and I know for the most part, he is fine with that. But he was running out for some cold medicine and he asked if I needed anything and I immediately thought of baby spinach for sandwiches and green smoothies. What did he pick up??

Spring mix... otherwise known as mesclun.


I wasn't thrilled (because I had green smoothies on the brain) when I saw the organic (yes! He did get that part right!) spring mix I had a few words... maybe like, "there go my green smoothies". But I later ate my words after we ate this salad for dinner and then lunch the next day. Boy, if it's not the closest thing to a nice restaurant salad, I don't know what is!

So thank you, hubby, for getting the wrong greens because I am officially hooked!

Hope you enjoy it too!


Mesclun Salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing:

Vinaigrette:
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown spicy mustard
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 packet of stevia powder
fresh ground pepper

I put all the ingredients in a bottle with lid and shook. Let sit for a half hour in fridge. Shake again before pouring on salad.

Mesclun Salad:
Several cups (or desired amount) of mesclun salad or spring mix
3/4 cup of thinly sliced yellow pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup pomegrante-flavored Craisins
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Lightly toss salad ingredients together and add a few tablespoons of the vinaigrette over and toss again.

Keep the remainder of dressing in sealed container for later use. (The next day it's even better!)