Perfect Vinaigrettes: Appetizers to Deserts
A great vinaigrette is a simple yet sublime component of countless appetizers, salads, main courses, and even some desserts.  Tossed with salad greens, drizzled over warm poached fish, pooled around a nest of steamed vegetables, marinating a roast, or glossing a plateful of sliced potatoes, vinaigrette sauces jazz up the most elementary foods. At first glance one of the easiest things to accomplish in the kitchen-just a swirl of oil, vinegar, seasonings, and perhaps some herbs and mustard - the making of a good vinaigrette seems to be an elusive art, even for the most accomplished home cooks.Perfect Vinaigrettes will unveil the mystery of making a good dressing, endowing home cooks with the confidence and the skills for turning out wonderful, memorable vinaigrettes for every meal. Here are sixty recipes, ranging from the most fundamental oil-and-vinegar or lemon-and-cream vinaigrettes to more complex sauces-a Piquant Parsley-Caper Vinaigrette for grilled, broiled, or braised meats; an Orange Vinaigrette for roast pork or barbecued chicken; a Black Olive, Herb, and Tomato Vinaigrette for grilled sea-bass; an Oolong Tea Vinaigrette for a water-melon and Roquefort salad; a Raspberry-Orange Vinaigrette for an elegant wild rice salad-many the creations of renowned chefs.  Included among the tantalizing specialty vinaigrettes are Ariane Daguine's Dijon-Shallot Vinaigrette, to be served with a Gascony duck salad; Andr Soltner's tangy Lutce Vinaigrette, with a hint of onion and Tabasco; and three-star chef Pierre Gagnaire's Fruited Eggplant Sauce for prawns or lobster tails.