{"id":5897,"date":"2010-01-19T10:44:38","date_gmt":"2010-01-19T15:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=5897"},"modified":"2010-01-19T10:47:16","modified_gmt":"2010-01-19T15:47:16","slug":"tangy-ranch-salad-dressing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=5897","title":{"rendered":"Tangy Ranch Salad Dressing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ranchsaladweb\"<\/p>\n

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After my recent LENGTHY post on Lillian Hellman and pot roast<\/a> I believe my readers and I deserve something short and simple today.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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I\u2019m nibbling on any greenery I can get my hands on at this time of year–usually augmented with apples, nuts, and dried fruit. So I thought I\u2019d share with you my most recent salad dressing.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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A few days ago I had a hankering to make the ranch dressing my neighborhood matriarch, Mary Parker (a.k.a. Gam), used to make. Hers was the first ranch dressing I ever tasted, about 30 years ago. I loved its smoothness, its tang (from buttermilk), and its gorgeous flecks of herbs.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Unfortunately, the file that contained Gam\u2019s recipe has mysteriously disappeared from the Tinky laptop.\u00a0The laptop\u00a0is not, alas, the most reliable of electronic devices.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Instead I used some of what I remembered from Gam, took a look at a few other recipes in cookbooks, and came up with my own version of the dressing.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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It isn\u2019t exactly Gam\u2019s formula, but it certainly perks up a salad. You\u2019ll find it a little thinner than commercial ranch dressings (which probably contain mysterious thickening agents). It still adheres nicely to a lettuce leaf or a carrot stick.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0And its complex, fresh flavor beats that of any bottled dressing I’ve ever tried.
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\"Cutting

Cutting the Herbs<\/p><\/div>\n

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Not Gam\u2019s Salad Dressing<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Ingredients:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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fresh herbs to taste (I used 1 handful parsley, 1 handful dill, and a few basil leaves)
\n1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion
\n1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
\n1 tablespoon lemon juice
\n1 cup mayonnaise (low fat is fine if you\u2019re dieting)
\n1\/2 cup sour cream (I should think Greek yogurt would also work very nicely, although I haven\u2019t tried it)
\n1\/2 cup buttermilk
\n1\/2 teaspoon salt
\nseveral turns of the pepper grinder
\nseveral drops of Worcestershire sauce
\n1 pinch sugar
\n1 pinch paprika<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Instructions:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Chop the herbs as finely as you can. I do this by crowding them into a small, narrow glass (like a juice glass) and sticking my scissors into the glass. You may need to chop your herbs in batches.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Combine the herbs with the other ingredients in a blender and process until the mixture is smooth. Place the dressing in a covered jar and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours before using it.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Makes a little more than 2 cups of dressing. Use within a few days.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\"I

I love having herbs on my window sill at this time of year!<\/p><\/div>\n

If you enjoyed this post, please consider taking out an email subscription to my blog. Just click on the link below!<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Subscribe to In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens by Email<\/span><\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 After my recent LENGTHY post on Lillian Hellman and pot roast I believe my readers and I deserve something short and simple today. \u00a0 I\u2019m nibbling on any greenery I can get my hands on at this time of year–usually augmented with apples, nuts, and dried fruit. So I thought I\u2019d share with you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[38],"tags":[989,992,990,991],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5897"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5912,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5897\/revisions\/5912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}