I can't think you have lots to use up...maybe enough to dress a salad for 5 or 6...
But it will keep easily a month in the refrigerator.
Amazing how good and easy it is to make your own dressing. I never buy dressing....

I always make my own dressing. The one you linked looks pretty good. The Bam guy still has his touch. LOL

Wow - didn't realize it would keep for that long! Thanks!

I always make my own dressings too - except for the Japanese miso dressing, which I don't have a good recipe for, but I've found a bottled version that I like and that is cheap at the Japanese market.

When making vinaigrette, I add minced fresh basil, oregano, and thyme, if I have them in my garden, although I never add dried herbs. I don't use sugar, but I do generally always use Dijon mustard, and I use aged Balsamic vinegar for sweetness. I also make Ranch salad dressing using fresh dill and fresh garlic. It took me a while to get the proportions down, as I was unable to find a recipe on line. It's much better than the bottled or dried versions.

Lars

Lars, will you share your ranch dressing recipe?

Thanks,

Di

Here's my ranch dressing recipe:

Ranch Dressing

3/4 c sour cream
3/4 c mayonnaise
1/2 c buttermilk
1 T lemon juice
2 T cider vinegar
1 large clove garlic (very finely chopped, pressed or microplaned)
2 1/4 t Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 t minced chives
1 1/2 t minced shallots
1 1/2 t Dijon mustard
1/2 t celery seed

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. This dressing really is better if made ahead of time, at least by a few hours so the flavors can "moogle" properly.

I have used thick yogurt instead of sour cream and had good results. Likewise, I have used mild onions instead of shallots and powdered buttermilk instead of fresh at times. It's a pretty forgiving recipe. I even used about a T of minced celery leaves instead of seed (I was out) once and it was fine.

Di, here's my recipe:

Ranch Salad Dressing

Ingredients

2 shallots, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh dill, minced (large stems removed) - do not substitute dried dill
1 dash cayenne
2 tbs fresh lemon juice (MeyerÂs lemons preferred), as needed for thinning
2 cups mayonnaise (Best Foods or HellmannÂs), or a combination of mayo and sour cream

Directions

If you have a small food processor, you can put roughly chopped garlic and shallots and fresh dill in together for mincing or fine chopping. It is okay with this recipe to puree the ingredients, although you may want to put the dill in last, in this case.

Then combine with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stir together by hand. Chill one hour and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Best to chill overnight before serving. It keeps for about a month, but may separate slightly; if so, stir before using.

Yield: approx. 18 oz.

Lars

Anyone got a T&T one where you substitute in some greek yogurt for some of the mayo or sour cream or buttermilk? I have been searching there are a million recipes on the web. Hard to figure out what's what. Some buttermilk, some mayo, some sour cream, various mixes.......

I also like to make a Greek style salad dressing using lemon juice instead of vinegar and dried or fresh oregano and of course no sugar.

If you have a mini-food processor, all the ingredients except the oil can be thrown in it, chopped and mixed together with a few pulses. Then put the oil in the top and let it drip in with the thing running for an easy emulsion.

I make a honey mustard dressing for my DH. It only keeps about a week in the frige.

Honey Mustard Dressing
1/3 c. cider vinegar
2/3 c. oil
1 1/2 T. honey
1 1/2 T. mustard
1/2 t. oregano
1 T. grated parmeasan cheese.

I also add about 1 1/2 t. horseradish to it. He loves it. I havent bought dressing in over a year. And this is the only one he wants.

Tami

And you can always use it as a marinade if you don't eat many salads.

Once you get used to making them, you'll probably never go back to bottled with all it's HFCS, salt and things that are unpronouncable. :)

Tami in Ohio....wonder why your dressing only keeps a week? I make bunches of a very similar dressing and it keeps for easily a month or more.

Mary, I make my own yogurt and often use it in place of sour cream in Lars' rance dressing. I can up the yogurt and cut down the mayo, but I can't manage to replace both the mayo AND the sour cream with yogurt.

My favorite is just some yogurt mixed with mustard and honey, kind of a creamy honey mustard dressing.

I never buy salad dressings either, but I very seldom eat salad. (grin)

Annie

Here's my Thousand Island dressing. It is great on shrimp salad.

No specific amounts...mayo, enough Heinz chili sauce to turn it light pink, finely minced green onions, bell pepper, stuffed green olives, and a grated boiled egg.

I never buy salad dressing and a very easy french dressing is a half cup oil, half cup ketchup and a quarter cup of vinegar. Shake it up in a jar. You can add some minced garlic. Original recipe...can't remember where I found it, called for a little bit of sugar, but I like it without it.

Here's my basic vinaigrette; I've made it for years. If you like tarragon, go for it:

Tarragon Vinaigrette Dressing

6 oz Olive Oil (see note)
2 oz White Wine Vinegar
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/8 to ¼ tsp salt (preferably kosher)
generous grinding of black pepper
4 to 6 dashes of Tabasco
about ¼ tsp of Dijon mustard

Put all the ingredients in a container and blend well with a fork or whisk. If you want it a little thicker, put an ice cube in it while blending it, removing the ice cube prior to dressing the salad. It can be made up earlier in the day and stored in a glass container, covered, in the fridge; just whip it up again immediately prior to dressing the salad. Makes about one cup.

Note on olive oil: this recipe is only as good as the oil you use. DonÂt use cheap olive oil (or--horrorsÂÂlite olive oil.) Use a good green "primavera" extra virgin oil, no blends. Bertolli is fine. If you can find a French oil like Hilaire Fabre or James Plagniol, get it; itÂs fantastic. Variation 1: use walnut or hazelnut oil instead of the olive oil. Variation 2: for the vinegar, use half vinegar and half lemon juice. However you vary it, though, make sure you follow the proverb "A spendthrift with oil and a miser with vinegar" Âthe oil to vinegar ratio should be about 3:1.

Can someone please post a recipe for bleu cheese dressing that uses buttermilk? There's a restaurant near me that serves the BEST bleu cheese dressing with a tangy flavor that I'm guessing comes from buttermilk. Since we're talking dressings, I thought of it. Thanks!

In another recent thread LindaC posted her homemade blue cheese dressing recipe, she describes there how through many iterations of trial and error she came up with the following recipe:

DonnÂs Delight
4 oz Maytag blue crumbled
1 cup of mayo ( I use Kraft)
3 oz ( about 1/3 cup) milk or cream
2 tsps sugar
2 tsps dried parsley
1 ½ Tablespoons lemon juice
1 ½ Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon fresh grated onion
2 Tsp Lee and Perrins worchestershire
1 tsp horseradish
½ tspoon garlic powder.
Mix gently so as to leave some lumps, and serve over a green salad or on sliced tomatoes or cukes and onions or as a dip for raw veggies.
Serves about 6 to 8

I've followed this recipe, and it's the best blue cheese dressing I've ever had.

It doesn't call for buttermilk but if you find it not tangy enough, you could probably substitute buttermilk for the milk or cream the recipe calls for.

Linda, I don't know why it doesn't keep more than a week, either. After about 7 days, if it isn't eaten, it gets a little rank, maybe because of the horseradish, I don't know. If he has a salad every day, it doesn't matter, cause that's all it makes anyway.

Tami

Here's a delicious and unusual dressing to try. I made this every night in the late 70's at Manhatten's premier veggie restaurant, Whole Wheat and Wild Berries (gone now)

Customers raved about this stuff for years.

Tahini Dressing

1-inch piece ginger
3 garlic cloves
1 cup oil
juice of one lemon
2 Tablespoon tahini (sesame butter)
2 Tablespoon tamari (soy sauce)

Place ginger and garlic in blender. Cover with a little oil. Blend to a fine paste. Add remaining oil, lemon juice, tahini and tamari. Blend some more. Add more Tahini for a thicker dressing.
Makes 1 1/3 cups dressing.

michael p

My Balsamic always takes on a tinny taste if kept in the fridge more than three or four days. I've used several different recipes, none with horseradish though.