Martha's Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing

On Wednesday nights, I usually go out to supper with my father and a few of his friends. Sometimes my sister joins us.  We just go to a local eatery down the road from where I live. The food is hit and miss, but I don't go for the food, I go for the company.

Its just nice to be able to spend this time with my dad and sister, if she has joined us.  Family times are the best of times.

 

Because of this I didn't cook myself a main meal today (as I write this, it is Wednesday).  I did make myself a delicious salad for my lunch however.

Several weeks ago I had been watching Martha Stewart on YouTube and she was making Salad Dressings.  She made a lovely wedge salad with a beautiful Blue Cheese Dressing. You can see the video here. 

It looked so delicious. My favorite salad of all is a Caesar Salad, but Blue Cheese Dressing is my second all time favorite!  Hers looked so delicious, I bookmarked it in my brain to try.  Today was the day!

I love, Love, LOVE Blue Cheese.  That is kind of strange I know, considering that I grew up only eating processed cheese slices and being afraid to try anything else.  

I did start using cheddar cheese for cooking when I got married and had a family of my own, but I was still not fond of strong cheeses as far as just eating the went.

I don't know why. I never actually ever really ate them. I was always too afraid to try. In my mind any kind of cheese stronger than a processed cheese was not something I thought I would like.

 

 

That all changed when I moved to the UK however.  How could you live in the birthplace of cheddar and not end up liking at the very least cheddar?  Its impossible!!  And then when I trained as a Chef, I also had to start trying things I had never thought I would like, one of which was cheese.

You cannot be squeamish about things like this if you are going to cook for a living.

That reminds me of when I was a very young woman and had my very first cooking job.  I say cooking rather loosely because I didn't really have to cook much of anything. I was hired as the Pastry Chef at a big Hotel here in the valley that was quite prestigious at the time.

I was responsible for the appetizers and desserts.  I baked cakes and put together simple desserts such as parfaits, etc.  I also made the Shrimp cocktails, escargots and all of the salads.

That was the very first time I learned about recycled salad.  Yes.  Recycled salad. Their policy was that you scooped off the manky salad on the top of the salad in the refrigerator and then added fresh to freshen it up.  I know.  Appalling. And this was a very supposedly high class place.

I won't name the place because I don't want to ruin their reputation.  I am sure this was probably a practice in many restaurants.  You just couldn't get rid of all the salad every day I suppose. It would have been a great waste.  Hence salad recycling.

Anyways back to this delicious dressing.  I decided to have a nice mixed salad for my lunch today, using what I had in the refrigerator and to make myself Martha's Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing to drizzle over top. A real treat indeed! 

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE MARTHA'S CREAMY BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

Aside from the blue cheese and perhaps the buttermilk, really simple ingredients. If you don't have buttermilk you can use whole milk, but the dressing won't have quite the same tang!

• 1/4 cup (30g) sour cream
• 1/4 cup (55g) mayonnaise
• 2 ounces (57g) crumbled blue cheese
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley or thyme leave
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, optional
• Pinch fine sea salt
• Pinch fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk

 

If you want to cut back on the calories a bit you can use yogurt instead of the sour cream.  Martha used both low fat Greek yogurt and low fat mayonnaise, also low fat buttermilk.

She used minced fresh thyme leaves. I didn't have any fresh thyme, so I used fresh chopped parsley leaves.

Do use fresh lemon juice.  Reconstituted lemon juice just is not the same and you don't get the same clean taste ad you do with fresh.  There is a HUGE difference between the two and in something fresh like this simple salad dressing it really DOES matter!

 

HOW TO MAKE MARTHA'S CREAMY BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

If you can whisk a few things together then you can make this. It really isn't that hard at all.

Combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, blue cheese, parsley, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and stir until well blended and creamy. Use the back of the spoon to press some of the cheese into a paste in the dressing, leaving some chunky.

Whisk in the buttermilk. If you like a thicker dressing, you can cut down the amount that you use, but I find the amount called for just right for use as a salad dressing.  Leave it out altogether if you are wanting more of a dip consistency.

This will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to one week.

 

This was really, really nice. Rich and creamy. I served it on a bed of mixed salad greens,  along with some sliced cucumber, radish roses and fresh tomatoes.

I added a sprinkle of additional blue cheese, crumbled to the top of the dressed salad and some crispy french fried onion bits for salads.  This made for a delicious light lunch that I quite enjoyed!!

If you are a fan of salads, and we are coming into salad season now, you might enjoy the following recipes from the blog:

HOMEMADE SALAD CREAM -  When I first moved over to the UK, generally speaking, this was the only salad dressing offered in most places.  Its delicious.  This fabulous homemade version is a cut above the stuff that comes in the jar. It tastes just like it, except somehow better, if that makes sense! 

HONEY LEMON VINAIGRETTE -  Our mother never bought store made salad dressings when I was growing up. We always had a homemade vinaigrette dressing on our salads.  This is a particularly delicious version. Honey and Lemon are beautiful taste partners.

Author: Marie Rayner

Martha's Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing

Prep time: 5 MinTotal time: 5 Min

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (30g) sour cream
• 1/4 cup (55g) mayonnaise
• 2 ounces (57g) crumbled blue cheese
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley or thyme leave
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, optional
• Pinch fine sea salt
• Pinch fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk

Instructions

1. Combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, blue cheese, parsley, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and stir until well blended and creamy. Use the back of the spoon to press some of the cheese into a paste in the dressing, leaving some chunky.
2. Whisk in the buttermilk. If you like a thicker dressing, you can cut down the amount but I find the amount called for just right.
3. This will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Notes

This is a lovely rich dressing. I like to serve some additional crumbled blue cheese to sprinkle on top of the salad after it has been dressed, but then, I love blue cheese.

I like to use Danish blue cheese, or Castello Blue Cheese.

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