Dressings to start, and salts to finish
For how many years, I wonder, have I quoted the words of a departed sage, that “May is sheer loveliness”?
And here we are in the nearly middle of it. Requests, as always, must come first, for how can one have content without preceding questions? Our Faithful Reader, himself a diner more than a preparer, nonetheless wants three recipes.
“The first is a brownie recipe made with double chocolate brownie mix and then filled with broken-up chocolate candies. The original recipe may have called for Symphony bars, but I don’t think it matters.”
The other requests came from a recent trip West. “Lewis is a Texas barbecue establishment, and I sampled their food on a recent vacation. I would like the recipe for their most popular side, corn pudding, as well as a recipe for bacon jam that I sampled at a gourmet shop.”
A TRIO OF DRESSINGS
We will fill you up today with good green things and the dressings that accompany them. Barbara Mann wrote first. “Several years ago an online recipe buddy sent me this recipe. She said it came from friends of her parents who owned a small diner in downtown LA in the 1930s. It is very flavorful and different from a regular recipe.”
Special House Dressing
1⁄2 cup oil 1⁄2 cup ketchup 1⁄2 cup sugar 1⁄4 cup vinegar 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 tablespoon onions
Combine all ingredients, and mix until thick. Let stand about 2 hours or overnight.
Margaret McNeil, who has a long-running blog called Margaret’s Morsels, has been making her version of honey mustard dressing for at least 20 years.
She reported that, “This dressing is delicious on salads, but it’s also good with chicken nuggets, fries and club sandwiches. My son likes to spread it on a turkey sandwich, and my husband uses it as a dip for carrots. No matter how you choose to use it, it’s better than store-bought.” This recipe was featured on Margaret’s Morsels.
Honey Mustard Dressing
6 tablespoons honey 6 tablespoons prepared mustard 6 tablespoons vegetable oil (I use canola) 1 1⁄3 cups mayonnaise 1 teaspoon cider vinegar Dash onion salt Pinch of cayenne pepper Mix ingredients thoroughly. Cover and store in refrigerator. Makes 2 1⁄2 cups.
Here is the next contribution from Ms. McNeil for a homemade French dressing (to my mind very different from the bottled version).
Mrs. McNeil wrote, “My husband isn’t a fan of French dressing, but he likes the version I make. It only uses six ingredients and takes just minutes to prepare. It tastes so much better than French dressing sold in a bottle. I shared this recipe on my blog six years ago.
“The dressing is easy to make and tastes so fresh, you won’t want to use bottled French dressing again.”
French Dressing
1⁄4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1⁄4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons vinegar 2 tablespoons ketchup 1⁄8 teaspoon salt Dash of garlic powder
Combine ingredients in a container with a tight-fitting lid; shake well. Refrigerate any leftovers.
This is better made a day ahead of time. Makes 6 servings.
SALTY TALK
There has been a good bit of salty talk among us, the talk in particular about finishing salts of various flavors. As it turns out, several shops locally offer these salts that are the perfect finish to a dish.
One of those, Olive of Chattanooga, is on Woodland Avenue right off Frazier on the North Shore. The proprietors, Pam and John Ferguson, gladly share recipes that use their products. This is one of their favorites, “from the Food Channel and Ree Drummond.”
Olive Cheese Bread
1 (6-ounce) jar black
olives, drained 1 (6-ounce) jar pimientostuffed green olives, drained
2 stalks green onions 1 stick butter, at room
temperature
1⁄2 cup mayonnaise 12 ounces Monterey Jack
cheese, grated
1 loaf crusty French bread, sliced lengthwise
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roughly chop black olives and pimiento-stuffed green olives in a food processor.
Slice green onions into thin pieces.
Combine the butter, mayonnaise, cheese, olives and green onions in a mixing bowl. Stir together until thoroughly combined.
Spread the mixture onto the French bread, and bake until the cheese is melted and browning, 20 to 25 minutes.
Cooks’ note: The mixture also can be refrigerated (up to 2 days) and used as a dip. It’s great with crackers.
If using as a dip, let it get to room temperature. Drizzle with Olive of Chattanooga’s Fig Dark Balsamic.
GERMAN SLAW
Merielle Flood enters the salad discussion in the slaw category. (She does not give the amount of cabbage, but lately I have been thinking that a little dressing is a lovely thing in a salad; mine in the past have tended to be too soupy-soaked. So, consider mixing this gently and then adding more if needed. JH)
Ms. Flood explained the recipe’s origins. “I’ve got a good slaw recipe for you and your readers, developed over many years trying to replicate the slaw from a Westphalia, Mo., German diner we used to enjoy going to.”
German Slaw
Cabbage (hand cut or buy the precut package) 1 tablespoon small capers 1 teaspoon mayonnaise 2 teaspoons ponzu (see note)
Note: Ponzu is a thin sauce, like soy sauce, available in the Asian food aisle. It’s salty, so you don’t need extra salt.
Combine cabbage and capers. Mix together the mayonnaise and ponzu. The ponzu makes the sauce not look “mayonnaisy.” Add to slaw mixture. If more dressing is needed, add with the same mayonnaise-ponzu proportions — 1 part mayo to 2 parts ponzu.
Ponzu is a whole new scheme, might we say, for this column. So much to learn; can anyone offer a beginner’s primer, for example, on either Brazilian or Vietnamese food? If so, you know where to send it, but you cannot imagine how many cooks would read your words gratefully. So let’s begin.