Green Goddess Dressing

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Green Goddess Dressing originates from the famed Palace Hotel, in San Francisco.  In 1923,  Philip Roemer (the hotel's chef) wanted to create something to pay tribute to actor George Arliss and the play, The Green Goddess.  Roemer then concocted the dressing, which, like the play, became a tremendous hit. 

The dressing is a variation of a dressing originated in France by a chef to Louis XIII who made a sauce au vert (green sauce), which was traditionally served with "green eel."

Green Goddess Dressing was a favorite of mine when I was a child.  It was popular in the 1970s, into the early 1980s, and has all but disappeared from stores.  In addition to the dressing's scarcity, I have become decreasingly less impressed with store bought dressings, as they have a weird gelatinous texture, that is not a substitute for creaminess.  This is my version of the San Francisco classic, which is very simple to make.


Skill level:

Ingredients

• 1 cup mayonnaise

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• 1/3 cup fresh chives (loosely packed)

• 1/3 cup fresh parsley (loosely packed)

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation

1.  Place chives and parsley into a food processor, and pulse two to three times, until coarsely chopped. 
 
2.  Add mayonnaise and sour cream, and pulse until ingredients are combined

3.  Add all remaining ingredients, and pulse until the mixture is smooth, with a greenish color, and small amounts of the fresh herbs are still visible.

4.  Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

Tabbouleh!

After some really heavy meals last week, I want to come into the holiday season eating healthy, and I will try to eat mainly vegan or vegetarian until Thanksgiving. While this may sound like a challenge, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Indian cuisines offer many flavorful vegetable dishes.  

I chop my parsley in a food processor. 

It only requires a few pulses to have

roughly chopped herbs.

Tonight I am serving Tabbouleh (Arabic: تبولة‎ tabūlah), which is a seasoned salad originating from the mountain regions of Syria, and Lebanon. It is popular throughout the Middle East, with countless regional variations. Traditionally, tabbouleh is made of herbs (usually parsley) and bulgar.  This variation uses barley.

Tabbouleh

Skill level: 

Ingredients

1/4 cup barley

1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion

2 Roma tomatoes

1 cup finely chopped cucumber

1 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

fresh ground pepper (10 turns, or to taste)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/3 cup finely chopped mint

juice from 1/2 lemon

Preparation

1. Boil water, and add barley.  Boil for 20 to 25 minutes, until tender.

2. Drain barley, and rinse thoroughly with cold water.
3. combine all ingredients in a bowl, and stir to combine.

4. Chill for at least one hour to allow flavors to combine.

Tabbouleh, served with hummus garnished with olive oil and paprika, sliced and toasted pita bread, and olive orzo salad.

Orzo Salad With Kalamata Olives & Goat Cheese

One of my favorite pasta salads is a simple orzo salad.  Orzo is Italian for "barley" and is a macaroni product, cut into short lengths, and shaped like long grains of rice.  Orzo is commonly used in Greek, Turkish, Italian, and Arab cooking.

My recipe is simple to prepare, and has a light and slightly rich flavor, reminiscent of foods commonly found around the Mediterranean.

Skill level:

Serves 4 to 6, as a side dish.

Ingredients

3 cups water
1 cup dry (uncooked) orzo
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 to 3 ounces goat cheese

corn starch

1/2 cup loosely packed parsley
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives
8 turns of a pepper grinder (1/2 teaspoon of black pepper)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1/2 of a Meyer lemon, juiced
1/4 cup pine nuts

Preparation

1. Bring water to a rapid boil.
2. Add orzo and salt, to the water, reduce heat to a rolling boil, and cook until minimum cook time of the orzo package.
3. While pasta cooks, crumble the goat cheese by sprinkling a small amount (less than 1 tablespoon) of corn starch on the cheese.  (The corn starch keeps the cheese from sticking together as it is crumbled). Spread around, and crumble to pea sized chunks. (Usually, a small log of goat cheese is 4 to 6 ounces, so I cut it the log in half, and keep the remaining for another day). 

4. Put the cheese in the freezer for about 10 minutes, or until frozen.
5. Put the olives, parsley, and paper in a food processor.  Pulse a few times until olives and parsley are roughly chopped.

6. When pasta is cooked, drain in using a colander or pasta strainer, and rinse thoroughly with cold water.

7. Put drained pasta in a bowl.  Dump the Olive and parsley mixture on top.  Add the olive oil, lemon juice, sesame seeds, and pine nuts.  Stir until combined.

8. Remove cheese from freezer, and gentley fold into the pasta salad.  The reason I freeze the cheese is to keep it a bit chunky when folding into the salad.  Unfrozen cheese sometime combines, and breaks down while stirring....so the quick freeze maintains the chunky texture of the cheese.
   
   
9. Chill for orzo salad for at least one hour before serving.  The pasta will absorb most of the oil and lemon juice while chilling.
10. When ready to serve, fluff lightly with a fork, while transferring to a serving dish