It’s raining here today and I’m feeling sun-deprived. So how about we make a little pineapple sunshine for our taste buds?
In my constant struggle to get my husband to eat vegetables (according to John, “vegetables kill!” – now you see my challenge), I know my only hope is to make them irresistibly tasty. When it comes to salad, that means making a truly kick-ass salad dressing. I find that most of the store-bought dressings are, well, offensive. Many are made with things I can’t pronounce, and unfortunately so many of the organic ones lack interesting flavors. Blah doesn’t cut it on my dinner table and I doubt it does on yours either. Never fear, my friends. This Pineapple Vinaigrette will make your palate sing! It turns a boring salad into a spectacular feature dish that will have even vegetable-haters begging for more.
I’ve gotta give credit where it’s due: There’s a cool restaurant called Flatbread in Paia, Maui that has the best Pineapple Vinaigrette salad dressing on the planet, but unfortunately they will not share the recipe. Sadly, they were immune to my incessant pleas, tears and attempts at bribery. But by channeling RainMan with my taste buds, I think I was able to successfully deconstruct the dressing, or at least create a reasonable facsimile of it.
I hope you try it today – its sure light up your day with its sunny flavor. If you do give it a go, please let me know what you think!
Pineapple Vinaigrette
Operation Carnivore Conversion 
You’re so right about supermarket dressings! Never enough lemon, in my opinion, though admittedly I have become lemon-obsessed and put it in everything. (I can tell you the price of lemons at like every stand at two different farmer’s markets. I’m nuts.)
However, despite the fact that your recipe is seriously lemon deficient, I’m giving it a shot anyhow. 🙂 I have some pineapple-coconut vinegar that’s been longing for a good use!
Oh-my-gosh have to bookmark this recipe!
Ha! I found your recipe as I was looking up pineapple vinaigrette recipes because I just came from Maui and loved the Flatbread pizza recipe! Thanks I will try this!
Just ate at Flatbreads last night….I did find out from an “anonymous source” who I cannot reveal….that they use roasted onion in their recipe!!!! Helps give that rich color and flavor!!!
I had a salad with the pineapple vinaigrette at Flatbreads in Maui two days ago and immediately after I ate it I started jotting down ingredients that I thought would recreate it. I’m glad I stumbled across your recipe and will definitely give it a try. Of course, the other thing that made the salad was the shredded green papaya.
First of all, jealous that you were/are in Maui! Second, that dressing is pretty much the best thing on earth, right? I hope you like my recipe – I think it’s a decent replication of Flatbread’s. But you’re right – there’s nothing quite like eating that salad in Maui and enjoying the fresh tropical produce on top!
So funny. I just googled “pineapple vinaigrette” because we are at Flatbread on Friday and had the salad. Your link was the first one I clicked on! I will definitely be trying to replicate that recipe. Thanks for sharing!!
That should say “are” not are. Sorry. And our server said it is a pineapple infused olive oil!!
Aaaaack! ATE