Blue Cheese Salad Dressing

Like my buttermilk salad dressing this is based on the recipe from the original Moosewood Cookbook.  I like the freshness of the green onions in it, though it does spoil a bit more quickly than it would with the dried onions Katzen calls for.  This dressing is lovely on a green salad with steak and baked potatoes.

• ¾ c buttermilk
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 4-6 oz blue cheese, crumbled
• 2 green onions, chopped
• lots of fresh ground black pepper
• salt, if necessary

Put all in a small jar and stir thoroughly.  Use within a week or two.

Buttermilk Salad Dressing

Creamy salad dressings made with canola oil creep me out.  This one is much healthier, and tastes better than anything I’ve bought at a grocery store.  (It’s based on a recipe from the original Moosewood Cookbook.  The buttermilk available here is 1% fat, and produced by introducing bacteria to milk rather than being the traditional kind left behind from churning butter.  It is low in fat, and probiotic, so relatively healthy.

• ¾ c buttermilk
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp herbes de Provençe
• lots of fresh ground black pepper

Put all in a small jar and stir thoroughly.  Use within a few weeks.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

 

This dressing goes well on a leafy green salad accompanying something that could use a little brightening up, like a fattier cut of meat, or a main dish with a creamy sauce.  The flavour is quite strong, so it won’t pair well with just anything.  Oddly enough, I found it went perfectly with meatloaf.

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove of garlic, pressed
• ½ tsp herbes de Provençe
• ½ tsp dijon mustard
• ½ tsp salt
• fresh ground black pepper

Mix all in a small jar.  It tends to separate, despite the emulsifying properties of the mustard, so either shake or stir immediately before using.  Or, you could try mixing the oil with the salad first, and then putting everything but the vinegar in next, so that the oil coats the leaves and the herbs and what not stick to them, followed by the vinegar.  Apparently this is a traditional Italian thing.  Or at least it is mentioned as such by a character in Robert Hellenga’s The Fall of a Sparrow.  I’ll try it some time when I want to dress a whole bowl of salad at once.

Hummus

Finally, a good recipe for hummus.  For years I was spoiled by having a great corner store that made hummus so fantastic and cheap that I stopped bothering to make it myself.  Then the store burned down, and didn’t reopen, and we moved.  A chance conversation with a neighbour presented me with a challenge of how to make it smooth and tasty, without having to pay so much for prepared food that we should be able to make ourselves.  The key for a smooth textured hummus seems to be to boil the chick peas and remove the skins.

• 1 540 ml can chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 3-4 tbsp tahini
• 1 ½ tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• ¼ c water
• at least 1 tsp sea salt

Cover chick peas with water in a medium sized pot, and boil for 30 minutes.  Drain and rinse in cold water.  Discard skins, unless you want a more rustic and less smooth dip.  Put everything in a food processor, and process until smooth.  Spoon into a container, sprinkle with paprika if desired, and serve.

100 Foods to Eat Before You Die?

Here’s my version of the list circulating Facebook and the blogosphere.  The Facebook one appears to have been based on Andrew Wheeler’s The Omnivore’s Hundred, which was originally  written for the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association Newsbite blog.  I’ve tried most things on the original list, but it seems fairly random.  It makes more sense as an omnivore’s list, since the list contains many items vegetarians and vegans won’t want.

The original list is about being an adventurous eater, but some common Canadian foods are really good, and worth celebrating.  Some I included simply because someone I know refuses to try them, and I think they would like them if they gave them a chance.  I’m happy to live in a city with cuisine from many parts of the world readily available.  I’ve tried all but two of these.  I love most of them, but there are a few I put in just because I think they are worth trying.  I’ve linked to recipes already posted on the blog, and will try to remember to add links for recipes I post in the future.

1. 2 year old cheddar
2. ajvar (a puree made of roasted red peppers, eggplant and garlic – tastes great with goat cheese)
3. apple pie
4. atualfo mangoes (the little yellow ones)
5. baklava (a Greek pastry)
6. balsamic vinaigrette (recipe coming soon)
7. bannock cooked over a camp fire
8. berbere sauce (spicy Ethiopian seasoning)
9. bhoona lamb (an Indian curry)
10. buttermilk salad dressing (recipe coming soon)
11. blue cheese-crusted filet mignon
12. borscht (Eastern European soup made with beets)
13. bulgogi (Korean beef dish)
14. bread fresh from your oven
15. brownies
16. brunost (Norwegian brown cheese)
17. cheesecake
18. cheese enchiladas
19. cheese fondue
20. chocolate cake
21. chocolate chip cookies
22. chocolate fondue
23. chokecherry jelly
24. cloudberries (also known as “bake-apples”)
25. curried goat
26. Christmas pudding
27. corn on the cob (best picked after you put the pot on to boil)
28. crayfish (fresh water lobster)
29. creton (a Quebecois paté)
30. duck
31. dulse (a kind of seaweed)
32. fiddleheads
33. fish you caught and cleaned yourself
34. fajitas (Mexican dish served with tortillas)
35. fresh vegetables from a farmer’s market
36. fried plantain
37. gaeng ped (a red Thai curry)
38. gazpacho (a Spanish cold tomato soup)
39. goat cheese
40. goulash (a Hungarian meat dish made with paprika, and  caraway seeds)
41. green lentils
42. guacamole
43. homemade chocolate sauce (coming soon!)
44. homemade ice cream
45. horseradish
46. hummus (a Lebanese dip/spread)
47. injera (Ethiopian flat bread)
48. Jamaican roti wrap
49. jerk BBQ
50. kale chips
51. key lime pie
52. kik alicha (Ethiopian dish made with yellow peas)
53. kimchi (spicy Korean dish made with cabbage)
54. lamb Marrakesh
55. macaroni and cheese
56. maple syrup
57. marzipan
58. mead (Ideally a good one, like Quebec’s Cuvée du Diable)
59. moo shoo pork
60. moose stew
61. Nanaimo bars
62. puff ball (a wild fungus)
63. pajeon (Korean savory pancakes made with green onions)
64. panang curry (Thai curry with peanut butter)
65. pavlova
66. perogies
67. pizza
68. poutine (a French Canadian dish made with fries, gravy, and cheese curds)
69. quinoa
70. rabbit
71. ratatouille (French dish of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and eggplant)
72. real bagels (i.e., not just bagel-shaped bread)
73. roast chicken
74. roast leg of lamb
75. roasted garlic
76. rye whiskey (It’s a drunk like no other)
77. snails
78. something you grew yourself
79. something you killed yourself
80. sourdough bread
81. souvlaki
82. spaetzle
83. sugar pie
84. sushi
85. sweet potato fries
86. Szechuan sauce
87. teff
88. Tlingit smoked salmon (hot smoked, rather than cold)
89. tom kha gai (Thai coconut soup)
90. tree-ripened peaches
91. trifle
92. trout almandine
93. tzatziki (a Greek dip/spread made with pressed yogurt, garlic and dill)
94. venison
95. wat (Ethiopian stew served with injera)
96. wild blueberries
97. wild rice
98. wild strawberries
99. wildflower honey
100. yogurt