I just liked the name. I remembered Green Goddess dressing from my childhood (in a pint jar, on a shelf above the iceberg lettuce at the Piggly Wiggly), but I didn’t really have a fixed idea of how it should taste. And, as I researched recipes, it didn’t seem like anybody else did either. There’s some old story about a dressing made at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in the 1920s, but the recipes were all over the place. Some were essentially herb mayonnaise mixed with sour cream –a nice party dip for, say, grilled shrimp, but probably not something you want to eat every day. Others used avocado to make what seemed like a runny guacamole, something I can’t imagine ever eating.
What they seemed to have in common, though, was that they were creamy and had strong herbal flavors, more often than not including tarragon. Based on this, I took to the kitchen to make a Green Goddess dressing that was a bright and interesting, but light enough complement rather than stifle the flavor of good salad leaves. (For the first of my series of occasional posts about alternatives to the same old olive oil vinaigrette, click here.)
This Green Goddess has a light bright herbal flavor that brings new life to a plain salad, but it also makes a nice dressing for a heartier salad with chicken or shrimp. I’ve shown it above on a simple salad of red leaf lettuce and oven-crisped prosciutto (which isn’t really fair –crisped prosciutto could make a bowl of damp grass clippings taste good). Throw in some chunks of good feta or a few shrimp, add a thick slice of good toasted bread with a drizzle of olive oil, and you’ve got a meal. By the way, don’t be afraid of the anchovy. It adds depth and body to the flavor, but no fishiness –just make sure to soak or wash away all of the oil or salt it’s packed in before you use it.
Recipe
(makes about 1 cup of dressing)
Ingredients
1 tablespoon of fresh Tarragon leaves, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon of Italian parsley leaves, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon chives, roughly chopped
1/2 small clove garlic, run through a press or finely chopped (optional)
1 small anchovy fillet (if packed in salt, rinsed; if packed in oil, soaked in cold water for a few mintues)
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (store bought is fine for this)
2 tablespoons plain yoghurt
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth and light Goddess green in color. Taste and adjust seasoning. Keep covered and refrigerated for up to a week.
