Did you know that most bottled salad dressings have a shelf life of over 90 days? That’s a lot of days for say, a Ranch dressing, which is made with lots of creamy ingredients, don’t you think? There has to be a whole lot of preservatives in that bottle to allow that dressing to “last” for that long. By the way, don’t be fooled by the salad dressing displayed in the refrigerated produce section. Manufacturers pay extra slotting fees to get their products in there, just to give the impression that these dressing require refrigeration.
I am a big proponent of homemade salad dressings and dips. Salad dressings are one of the easiest things one can make, and a fresh dressing makes everything it’s poured upon taste so much better. When you think about it, if you want to enjoy fresh vegetables, shouldn’t you use fresh herbs and quality ingredients to dress those vegetables? As we move into summer and salads become more popular, do you want to try to take a few minutes to make a nice, fresh dressing for your salads and crudite?
Today, I’m going to share my creamy, dreamy Splendid Ranch recipe. I love making this ranch dressing, loaded with fresh herbs. It makes a fabulous dip for vegetables as well.
If Ranch dressing doesn’t inspire you, here are some other recipes I’ve shared in the past that you may want to try: Splendid Vinaigrette, Thousand Island and Green Goddess dressing.
The other day I offered to bring some fruit and vegetable platters to my daughters pool party and thought an herby ranch dressing could be the perfect dip for the girls to enjoy with their vegetables.
Splendid Ranch Dressing
yield 5 cups
2 cups good quality mayonnaise (Best Foods or Hellman’s, preferably)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup buttermilk
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons minced chives
1/2 cup minced parsley
1 tablespoon minced tarragon
optional
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon green Tabasco
lemon juice
lemon juice
Procedure
On a cutting board, pour the salt over the minced garlic,
use a fork to pulverize the garlic. The edges of the salt help to break down the garlic. When the garlic is pulverized, the garlic flavor will be more evenly distributed in the dressing.
Wash and prepare the herbs, the quantities listed above should just serve as a guideline, add more or less to suit your taste.
I love having a cutting board full of green goodness. The fragrance of the parsley {far left}, chives {to the right} and, most of all, the tarragon {shyly sitting front and center} just sends me.
Into a large bowl, measure the mayonnaise, sour cream and buttermilk, then stir. Add the herbs and garlic and mix them all together. I like to make the dressing the day before I serve it to allow the ingredients mix and mingle in the refrigerator overnight. This big 2 litre measuring glass makes a project like this easier, I don’t have to use any measuring cups.
That’s it. The Ranch Dressing is complete. Taste it just before serving, if you think it needs it you can spice it up with the Worcestershire, Tabasco or lemon juice.
Do you want to see how it looked in my crudites platter? Read on:
My friends at Amazonfresh {more on them coming soon} sent over these handy packs of cut vegetable sticks. I can’t stand dry looking vegetables, so a few hours before assembling the trays I put the vegetables in large bowls of ice water to hydrate them and make them as crisp as can be.
A layer of lovely, common, green kale provides a great background for most any foods. I buy bunches of it, rinse it and allow it to dry.
Then I place it on my platters before piling on the food.
Another produce pal I like to use for a platter of crudites is the shapely cabbage. After making criss-cross cuttings (about 8) through the center of a cabbage half, then cutting a circle about an inch in from the exterior, I used a fork and spoon to pull out the cut pieces and create an attractive vessel for the Ranch dip. If I am bringing a platter like this to a party, I usually bring the cabbage empty,
and fill it with the herby dip on site.
Do you want to know what else I brought? Some simple, healthy things.
A platter piled high with Valencia orange slices.
and a cork bowl loaded with some of the early California strawberries, which are tasting very sweet this year, I might add.
Strawberries are always a pleasure straight up, if they are washed. I’ll take true grit from Jeff Bridges any day of the week, but I’d rather not find it in my berries.
To make sure your berries are grit~free, soak them in cool water for 10 minutes or so, then scoop them out into a colander, rinse and serve {you’ll be amazed to see what is left in the water}.
I pierced chunks of melon and pineapple with bamboo skewers on another platter. The other moms and I were thrilled that the girls picked up on this prompt and had fun creating their own fruit kabobs.
all right, congratulations again, you graduates, party on….
The food AND your photos are delicious!
xo Cathy
Looks delish. I'm proud to say we don't have any bottles of salad dressing in our 'frige or pantry. Just too many bottles of olive oil, vinegar and jars of Dijon mustard to count!
And I have to agree, the California strawberries have been pretty darn good. Bought some at Bert's last night added them to an arugula salad with homemade vinaigrette.
Thanks for the Ranch recipe!
YUM!
I am going to make the dressing.
This looks wonderful. I love your brightly colored pictures. I wish I had some of this right now.
My kids love Ranch with crudites so I'm definitely going to have to try this. I frequently serve my dips in a hollowed out cabbage also, although usually a red one (in fact I suggested it today too). Your photos are fabulous and those strawberries look simply delectable!!