Salad Greens with Creamy Lemon Balsamic Vinaigrette

My sister-in-law Caline, inspired the soy sauce to replace salt in this delicious dressing. And she is in good company - Jacques Pépin uses soy sauce in his dressings (and dishes in general) quite a bit - good cross-cultural food fusion! And I also follow Jacques' cue for anchovies (salty, too) which add a great depth of flavor.On the bottom of a wooden salad bowl, crush a clove of garlic, and an anchovy with the tines of a fork, forming a paste. With the fork, whisk in a teaspoon soy sauce and the juice and zest of 1/2 lemon, and one Tbsp Balsamic vinegar. Then mix in 1/4 cup olive oil. Mix in freshly ground pepper. Top with about 6 cups salad greens of choice; in this version I used spring mix greens, grapes, grape tomatoes, yellow pepper, snow peas and pine nuts.

Makes enough for one large family-sized salad.

Cook's note: you can also use anchovy paste, which is much more convenient if you don't eat lots of anchovies, but just don't tell the purists!

Another great combo is to top the salad with a crudité like raw beet and carrot salad. Here, I kept the greens simple - just baby spinach, and I topped with feta (or blue cheese is great too!).