Thursday, February 11, 2010

Ranch Dressing

I know I said I didn't really miss anything, but I was wrong. I have been actively feeling the loss of ranch dressing for some time. I have made a great many very lovely vinagrette and mustard dressings over the last several months. But sometimes a girl just wants a thick, creamy coating on her lettuce and that's all there is to it.

The assembly of ranch dressing is really pretty simple, but it requires two ingredients that mean a substantial amount of planning is involved for me. Mayonnaise (and the mayo has to be successful, not an oily mess.) and Sour Cream. Full disclosure: I bought buttermilk this time instead of making it from lemon juice and whole milk. In my defense, this was an experiment to see if there is a difference when using it to do some chemistry-type kitchen magic, rather than just as an ingredient in a recipe. It turns out that yes, there is a difference. The lemon juice solution works out great if you are making buttermilk pancakes, and I suspect when using it as an ingredient in buttermilk ranch dressing. But if you are trying to turn regular cream into sour cream, you need some actual cultures, so real, cultured buttermilk is necessary. I don't know what the exact science is on this, but it makes sense to me anyway.

Also, this time I attempted to make the Mayonnaise in the blender as opposed to the hand mixer. This misadventure is chronicled in another post, I don't want to spoil it here.

So for the Ranch Dressing, I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman and all her glorious photography that ruins my self-esteem. You'll have to make do with my sad photos here.
Here is the  cast of characters. This is a pretty subjective recipe, you can add or subtract ingredients according to your taste and what you have.

I stared with  1 cup mayonnaise and 1/2 cup sour cream. But I ended up adding another 1/4 cup sour cream in the end (Because I got too heavy handed with the cayenne and I found it a little mayonnaise-y - store bought mayo may be less, you know flavorful, so try it a few ways)
Next dice up 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, depending on your preference. (I almost never say "that was too garlicy" so I used 2, but you or the person who kisses you may feel differently.) After dicing add a healthy pinch of kosher salt and macerate the garlic with a fork or a mortar and pestle until it almost forms a paste.
 
Add this to your mayo/sour cream mix.

Next up would be chives if I'd had any, but I only had one green onion/scallion, so I chopped it up in the mini chopper and added it to the mix. Followed by a 1/4 cup flat leaf parsely. (I have a gross of this that despite using in almost every recipe seems to be breeding in my crisper)


Pretty much everything else is optional, and "too taste". I wish I could tell you the quantities that I used, but in reality I just put in "some" Worcestershire sauce, white vinegar, cayenne pepper, paprika, hot sauce and dried basil. Then I thinned it out with a bit of buttermilk*. (My mayo was a little thinner than store bought would be, so you may need more than a bit of buttermilk to achieve the right consistency.) Last I added some salt, then a little more salt. You just have to keep tasting all along to see what you think. Pioneer Woman had a good suggestion that I didn't take, but you might... use a piece of lettuce to taste it so you get a more accurate sense of how it will work in the real world, since you won't be using it on a tip of your pinkie salad, at least not every time you serve it.

Then cover her up, and stick her in the fridge for two hours to think about what she's done, as my friend and sous-chef, Jan Smelk would say. Then you are ready to smother all your healthy veggies with some creamy, fatty goodness.
 

Here is list of ingredients optional ingredients, but you are only limited by your own taste and imagination:
  • 1 clove (to 2 Cloves) Garlic
  • Salt To Taste
  • ¼ cups Italian Flat-leaf Parsley
  • 2 Tablespoons Fresh Chives
  • 1 cup (real) Mayonnaise
  • ½ cups Sour Cream
  • Buttermilk* (as Needed To Desired Consistency)
  • White Vinegar (optional, To Taste)
  • Worcestershire Sauce (optional, To Taste)
  • Fresh Dill (optional, To Taste)
  • Cayenne Pepper (optional, To Taste)
  • Paprika (optional, To Taste)
  • Fresh Oregano (optional, To Taste)
  • Tabasco (optional, To Taste)
  • Dried Basil (optional, To Taste)
*If you want to reduce the tangy factor, use regular milk in place of buttermilk. 


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