You should all make this ’cause it’s incredibly easy and tastes better than anything you’ll buy at the store. Make enough to fill a jar and leave it in the fridge to use as salad dressing or steak marinade.

I know there are a lot of recipes out there, but I didn’t feel like following one. I didn’t feel like slowly mixing in small amounts of olive oil. Or using whisks and fancy gadgets (I only discovered immersion blenders today). So I just grabbed a blender, threw everything in, et voilà!

And by everything I mean: about a 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, a little brown sugar, sea salt, black pepper, 2 cloves of garlic, a quarter of a small shallot, some mustard and lots of olive oil. I did blend everything else first and then added the olive oil and blended again.

I probably violated several culinary laws or something. But oh well! Drizzled on a pecan salad, the vinaigrette was perfect – creamy, tangy and a little sweet.