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.

Chick Pea Curry

Mark really likes this meal, and it does make an attractive vegan entrée with brown basmati rice.  I’m not a fan of chick peas, unless they’ve been turned into hummus or falafel, but this is fairly good.

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1” ginger, minced
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp curry paste
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed
• 1 tsp fenugreek, lightly crushed
• 1 ½ tsp onion seeds
• about 2 c water
• 1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
• ½ can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 1 red or green (or some of each) pepper, chopped
• salt

Put on rice to cook.

Puree onion, garlic and ginger.  Fry this in the oil until it starts to brown, adding all the seasonings but the salt.  Add water, cauliflower, tomatoes and chick peas.   Cook until cauliflower is tender, which may take up to 20 minutes.  Add peppers and cook a few minutes mores.  Add salt to taste.

Serve over rice, or with naan bread.  Makes 5-6 servings.