The Salad Bar ~ Creamy Gorgonzola Dressing (Blue Cheese)

I've been making my own Blue Cheese Dressing for about 15 years. Prior to that, I never really cared for it much. The only exceptions were a few "house made" versions, from a handful of restaurants. I've tried several store bought or bottled versions over the years, but I've always come away disappointed by what I can only describe as... a funky aftertaste. I don't know if it's the result of too much vinegar, not enough sugar, or maybe it's from chemicals or preservatives, but whatever it is, not a single one that I've tried has ever come close to tasting like homemade. So, what do I usually do when I'm faced with this kind of dilemma? I made my own, of course!

This was a tough one, though. I think I went through 5or 6 incarnations before I finally had the balance I was looking for. Now, this recipe is to my taste (and my family's too) and I've had requests from friends and family, but you might prefer more or less of one ingredient or another. And that's OK. After all, that's what cooking is all about, right? When you taste and season your food as you're preparing it, you're more likely to end up with something that satisfies you and your family. I do hope you try this recipe, but I also encourage you to experiment with the ingredients. Just consider it as a starting point.

...and have fun!

Creamy Gorgonzola Dressing

• 1 Cup Sour Cream
• 1/2 Cup Real Mayonnaise
• 8oz Blue Cheese, crumbled (I used Gorgonzola)
• 2 Tsp Brown Sugar
• 1 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1-2 Tbls White Balsamic or Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 Tbls Dried Minced Onion
• Salt

Start by combining the dried minced onion and vinegar in a small ramekin or bowl. Set it aside to allow the onions to rehydrate.

You might be wondering why I use dried minced onions. Well, there is a reason and it's about balance. Now, I've never been very good at chemistry, but there's actually quite a bit of it involved in cooking. We generally don't think about cooking as a science, but we do have a pretty good idea of what tastes good to us and what doesn't. The first time I ever made homemade bleu cheese dressing, I used grated fresh onions and found them to be way too harsh. They totally overpowered the milder flavors of the sour cream and the bleu cheese.

You want that subtle onion-y flavor, but you don't want it to be the first thing that you taste in a creamy, cheesy dressing. Dried onions are much milder than their fresh counterparts, but they need to be rehydrated in some way. You could use water, but that wouldn't add anything extra to the overall flavor of the dressing.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the sour cream, mayo, brown sugar, worcestershire and salt, adding 2/3 of the gorgonzola. Set the rest aside. If you're not a fan of mayonnaise, you can use a cup and 1/2 of the sour cream. The dressing will be a little more tart or tangy, because the mayo helps to balance out the acidity in sour cream, but it will still be tasty.

Stir the mixture together (you could use a whisk or a fork) exerting a bit of pressure to help mash the cheese crumbles into the rest of the ingredients. This helps to disperse the rich flavor of the cheese more fully and also helps to thicken it.

Add in the rehydrated onions. If there's more than a tablespoon of the vinegar left in the ramekin, you might want to drain off a wee bit. Mine had a little more than a teaspoon left over and I added it all in.

Like salt, vinegar gives a little flavor boost to a lot of foods (some that you wouldn't expect, like a dark chocolate cake!) and it's acidity helps to cut through some of the richness of a creamy dressing. Of course, some vinegars are more or less acidic than others, so rehydrating the dried onions in a slightly sweet vinegar, like the white balsamic or a red wine vinegar, helps to soften it's bite as well. So, they really do compliment each other... and the dressing.

Then, add in the remaining 1/3 of the gorgonzola and stir gently to combine. If you prefer a completely smooth dressing, add all of the gorgonzola at the beginning.

Cover the bowl with a little cling wrap or a tight fitting lid and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, to allow the flavors to marry. I always taste the dressing at this point, to check for seasoning and more often than not, I end up adding another pinch or two of salt. I've found that dressings and dips made with sour cream will usually need a bit more salt, but it's up to you.

We had Blue Cheese Chicken Salads, but you can serve yours over your favorite fresh greens or alongside chicken wings or chicken fingers. It also makes a great dip for a fresh vegetable platter and as a creamy spread for roast beef sandwiches. Whatever you decide to serve this dressing with...

Enjoy!

Mary

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The Side Board ~ Garlic Butter and Parsley Hasselback Potatoes

I know. I'm coming in pretty late in the game to the whole hasselback thing. You're probably thinking "been there, done that", but I'll be honest with you... when I first saw them popping up all over Pinterest, I just couldn't figure out what the big deal was. Don't get me wrong. I'm all over a good potato. I mean, I am Irish, after all. And sure, the pictures were gorgeous. And yes, people were raving about them and pinning them like crazy... but it wasn't really a new concept to me. I was the one thinking, "been there, done that".

Believe me, I'm not averse to trying some of the "trendy" recipes that pop up all over the blogosphere and on Pinterest, but I've been making a slightly different version of these potatoes for years. I don't want to give it away right now, because I'm sure I'll be posting about it at some point over the summer. But, I will say that it's a method that I learned from Hubby's mom, long before she ever became my mother-in-law.

That being said, I had some good looking russets on hand that looked like they'd be perfect candidates for these hasselbacks and I thought, "what the heck... why not"? And now? Well, now I'm thinking, "what in the world took me so long"!

So, here's my our contribution to the hasselback craze. I say "our" because Hubby did 99% of the work on these bad boys, while I was marinating steak and making my creamy avocado dressing. After all, I have to give credit where credit is due! (Plus, I didn't want you thinking that those were my big ol' "man hands", when you saw some of the photos. LOL)

We went with a very basic preparation, because as luscious as all of those cheese stuffed, bacon topped adaptations on Pinterest look, I've made my share of over the top, loaded types of potatoes in some of my recent posts, like sour cream and garlic mashed, lyonnaise, etc. and I wanted to keep these simple.

Garlic Butter and Parsley Hasselback Potatoes

• 4 Lg Russet or Idaho Potatoes, scrubbed and patted dry
• 3-4 Cloves Garlic, crushed
• 8 Tbls Butter (1 Stick), softened to room temperature
• Fresh Parsley
• Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Hubby's favorite knife in the block. A razor sharp 10" Henkles chef's knife. I usually only touch that thing to wash it, because he's got some pretty awesome knife skills and well, let's just say...I keep my band-aids in the kitchen.

Preheat your oven to 425 Degrees

Scrub the potatoes under cold water with a good vegetable brush and pat them dry with a clean tea towel or paper towels.

Using a sharp knife, slice the potatoes about 1/8 inch apart and only 3/4 of the way down, being careful not to cut through the bottom. If you do make a boo-boo and cut all the way through, don't panic. You'll just have an "extra" (maybe smaller) potato. If the boo-boo is at the end of the potato, just discard the smaller piece. I've heard that squirrels really like potatoes. ;~)

In a small bowl, combine the softened butter, the crushed (or pressed) garlic and the chopped parsley. If you have another fresh herb that you'd like to use, you can substitute that. Chives, thyme, dill or very finely chopped rosemary would be pretty tasty.

Dried herbs would probably be okay, but if you do decide to use them, I'd prepare the butter mixture earlier to give them a little time to "rehydrate" from the natural moisture in the butter and garlic. Dried herbs tend to burn more easily in a hot oven and that can make them bitter. If you don't have time to mix it up early, just omit them altogether. Your finished potatoes will still be delicious. :~)

Brush about 1/3 of the butter mixture all over the potatoes, making sure to get plenty of it down in between the slices. Set the other 2/3 aside for later.

We love the silicone brushes (for so many reasons), but any good pastry brush would work too. If you don't have either of these available, just use your impeccably clean hands! It's a little messy, but as the saying goes, they're "the best God-given tools we have".

Line a large baking sheet with heavy duty foil (for easy clean-up) and if you have a bit of the butter mixture left on your brush, use it to grease the pan. No point in wasting good garlic butter, right? You could also use a bit of light olive or vegetable oil instead. Either one will help to keep the potatoes from sticking to the pan (or foil) and will also make the bottoms extra crispy! Win/Win!!!!

Season the potatoes liberally with salt and pepper...

Bake them in your preheated oven for approximately 45 minutes. But, we're not done yet...

After 15 minutes, take them out of the oven and baste them with the second 1/3 of the garlic butter.

Put the potatoes back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Then, after that time has passed...

Take them out again and baste them with the remaining 1/3 of the butter, before putting them back in for the final 15 to maybe 20 minutes, or until they're fork tender on the inside and the skin is golden and crispy.

We had a bit of the garlic butter left in the bowl and on the brush, so we gave them a final "blessing" when they came out of the oven.

This step is certainly optional, but if you want to do it and you don't have any of the garlic butter left, you could always use a little plain butter or olive oil. It's totally up to you.

Serve them with a little sour cream, if you like. As you can see, we like. :~)

We had these with a delicious, perfectly medium rare, (thanks again, to my Hubby, the grill master) sirloin steak and a simple green salad with my homemade avocado dressing. It was our first time using the grill this year, so that made it kinda extra special!

OK, this is totally off the subject of food, but are any of you watching the TV show Scandal? I won't throw any spoilers out there, in case you DVR it and aren't caught up, but ~ O-M-G!!! ~ I'm seriously on the edge of my seat! I rarely get this way about TV shows, but this one is an exception. It's one of the shows that Hubbs and I watch together and as much as he'll want to wring my neck for saying it, we're both addicted. It's created and written by Shonda Rhimes (of Gray's Anatomy fame) and let's just say that the words drama and suspense don't even come close!

FYI... it's season finale time this Thursday and they're doing the last five minutes "live" so if you haven't done so already, you might want to catch up quickly. (By the way, I totally nailed the big shocker at the end of last week's episode. Just sayin'.)

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Open Faced Ham, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Sammies (For Mother's Day)

On Sunday mornings, the hubbs and I generally go out for breakfast, but on those occasions when we don't, we like to whip up something a little more substantial than a bowl of cereal or, our "usual" on weekdays, which is basically just a cup or two of coffee. (shame on us) More often than not our Sunday morning treat, ends up being a breakfast sandwich of some kind. The ingredients vary, based on what we happen to have in the larder at the time. On this particular day, we had off the bone style ham from the deli, shredded Colby-Jack cheese, one bagel and a half loaf of left over artisan bread from a local bakery. Tuscan... I think. 

Bagel, bagel... who gets the bagel? Well, this time, I drew the short straw and dear old hubby got the bagel, but that was fine with me. I certainly enjoy a good bagel, but I'm also perfectly happy with a couple of slices of buttery, toasted Tuscan bread. Hmmm. Come to think of it... Maybe I did get the better end of that deal. Whaddayouthink?

Open Faced Ham, Egg and Cheese Breakfast "Sammies"

• Bread, Hard Rolls, Bagels or English Muffins
• Eggs
• Ham (or Bacon or Sausage)
• Cheese
• Butter
• Salt & Pepper

Just a note before I continue... It really helps to have two people putting these sandwiches together in an assembly line fashion, because... 1) It all happens pretty quickly and you want to keep all of the ingredients as hot/warm as possible and 2) It's simply more romantic that way. :~) (am I the only one noticing a theme here?)

OK. Start by preparing your bread, rolls, bagels, etc. You can pop them in the toaster, put them under the broiler for a minute or two, or grill them off in a heavy skillet. If you're using the broiler, skillet or a toaster oven, you can butter them before, or after. I like to toast or grill them first, then slather the butter on as soon as they're done. They turn out more brown and crunchy that way.

Next, in a large non-stick skillet, over medium to medium-high heat, fry up several slices of the ham. I don't do this in a stainless steel skillet because I'd have to add oil or butter to keep the meat from sticking. It's certainly not that I don't like butter, but there will be more than enough butter going into these sandwiches from the eggs (and the toast) by the time they're complete. Thinly sliced ham like this cooks up very quickly, so watch it closely and turn it a few times, just until the slices are heated through and lightly browned. You don't want it to be really crispy, like bacon. Well, I suppose you could, if you prefer it that way. Hah! Now that I've said that, it might not be such a bad thing. I'll have to try it some time...

Loosely pile the ham up on the bread/bagel/roll while it's still hot and add the cheese immediately. Doing this, as well as using a finely shredded cheese, will ensure that the cheese melts more quickly and it saves the added step of having to pop everything into the oven or under the broiler to melt the cheese.

These "sammies" make a quick and easy BFD ~ "breakfast for dinner", too. Sometimes, we'll make French Toast or Eggs Benedict, instead. Hubby and I both grew up with moms who made breakfast for dinner from time to time and we probably have it about once a month. Especially in the colder weather.

I always crack my eggs into a separate bowl first. This way, I can see if there are any imperfections in the eggs, plus it makes it easier to slide them into the pan at the same time and that means that they'll cook more evenly. I guess you could call that a win/win/win situation?!

In the same non-stick skillet, melt a tablespoon of butter until it just begins to sizzle..

Slide the eggs into the pan and season them with some kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. I usually only fry 2 eggs at a time, because I'm an uncoordinated flipper. I've gotten better over the years, but try as I might, I still break one of the yolks about 50% of the time. We both prefer an over easy egg, but you can cook them any way you like. You can scramble them, poach them or make mini omelettes, if you prefer.

For over easy eggs, flip them over just as the whites are beginning to set and cook for about 45 seconds. If you prefer the yolks to be more firm, let them cook another minute. Any longer than that and you'll end up with rubbery eggs. To make sure that the yolk is fully cooked through, you can break it just before flipping. My brother always preferred his fried eggs that way. We called them "poked out" eggs.

Place the eggs on top of your crunchy, buttery, cheesy, hammy vehicle of choice and serve immediately.

Of course, I broke one of the yolks on the second batch. (as I said... it's 50/50) I kept that "poked out" egg for myself because, well... that's the kind of wife I am. ;~)

Mmmmm Mmmmm Good! Sounds like a great idea for Mother's Day breakfast in bed, doesn't it?

Enjoy!

Mary

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The Side Board ~ Steakhouse Spinach

This is a really quick and easy recipe. We call it "steakhouse spinach" but I think the original recipe is called creamed spinach casserole or something similar. We call it what we do, because there isn't any "cream" in it, but it would remind you of the creamed spinach that you get at high-end steak houses like Ruth's Chris or Hy's. We had it with prime rib and oven roasted potato wedges for this year's New Years Eve dinner.

I think the recipe originated from one of the "brand recipe" cookbooks or possibly from the back of a box. If I had to guess, I'd say it probably came from the folks who make Lipton Onion Soup, because it's the one ingredient in this dish that's pretty well known. It takes only about 30 minutes from start to finish to prepare, so it's a fantastic last minute side dish for steak and other meats.

It also makes an awesome hot dip for bread or crackers. I keep a couple of boxes of frozen chopped spinach on hand at all times, just for that reason.

Steakhouse Spinach

• 2 14oz Boxes Frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed and really well drained
• 2 Cups Sour Cream
• 1 Packet Onion Soup Mix (Lipton or your favorite brand)
• 2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded ~ plus...
• 1 Cup Sharp Cheddar, shredded (for the top)
• Salt & Pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F

Once the spinach has thawed, remove it from the packages and place it in a large strainer or fine colander and press or squeeze as much of the liquid out as you possibly can. If you fail to get all of the liquid out, you'll end up with a watery casserole and that's not at all appetizing.

If your spinach is still a little frozen, you can run it under warm water, breaking it up with your fingers or a fork as you do. I'll even thaw it out like this straight from the freezer, when I'm really pressed for time. (Don't forget to squeeze out all of the liquid before continuing with the recipe)

You might actually be surprised by the amount of liquid that comes out of it.

I've found that some of the store brand or generic onion soup mixes are a bit bland compared to the Lipton brand. On the rare occasion when that's all I have in the pantry, I'll use one and a half packets of the mix.

Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl. (except the 3rd cup of cheese) Season with a little salt and pepper.

Turn the mixture out into a deep sided casserole dish. (no need to grease the pan)

Sprinkle the final third of a cup of cheese over the top. Bake, uncovered, in your pre-heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until it's golden brown and bubbly all over.

Serve it with a thick juicy strip steak, prime rib, chicken, pork or any other meat that you like. Or, serve it as a hot dip with crusty bread or crackers. Any way you serve it, it's downright addictive, so make a double batch if you have a crowd of hungry folks to feed. It's even good left over and reheated in the microwave... if you have any left over, that is. :~)

Enjoy!

~Mary

Don't forget that you can print this (or any) recipe using the "Print Friendly" button at the foot of each post. It's a great little feature that allows you to remove any pictures (or any of my jibber-jabber) before printing. That can save you ink and paper & with today's economy, why not save a little wherever you can?!


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Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Hope everyone is enjoying the day and having lots of yummy Mexican and Tex-Mex goodies to eat! If you need any last minute ideas, I have some tried and true recipes here on the blog. Just click HERE for a post that's got a little of everything!

Or, if you'd just like to go directly to a specific recipe, click on the link below each of the following photos!

Tex-Mex Chicken Chili Soup HERE

Queso Blanco (Mexican White Cheese Dip) HERE

Chicken Enchilada Lasagna HERE

Ultimate Margarita Chicken with Tequila Lime Vinaigrette HERE

Creamy Avocado Dressing HERE