June 19, 2011

Olive Garden Salad Dressing...kind of.

I have created a food snob. In an attempt to get Michael to eat salad (yes, he's like my child) I started making my own salad dressing knowing that it's often tastier than the bottled stuff. Sigh....Now he insists I have at least homemade ranch in the fridge at all times and refuses to eat anything bottled. What have I done? I guess it worked, he eats lettuce almost every night with dinner. So, since I've done this I'm always on the look for new salad dressings. I found this one in a book called "America's Most Wanted Recipes: Favorite Restaurants" that I got for Christmas one year. It's supposedly the dressing recipe that Olive Garden uses. While I don't think it is, it does have a similar taste and it is quite tasty. This recipe does use a little bit of raw egg. The lemon juice and vinegar should kill any yucky bacteria that may be present but if you are the paranoid type, you can use pasteurized egg (Egg Beaters) and that will work fine.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup corn syrup
3 tbsp grated parmesan or romano cheese
2 tablespoons pectin (optional but preserves it a bit longer)
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp dry Italian seasoning (or just add a few shots of any Italian-ish dried herbs you like)

Directions:
Mix the whole shebang in a blender. Chill for at least an hour. Serve over salad!


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