Green Goddess dressing: my journey

While working for a division of the world's premier auto maker (General Motors) in the late 80s I attended a conference at one of the resorts in Santa Barbara. At lunch the salad dressing was really good and the server came back from the kitchen and said it was Green Goddess. I looked at the supermarket to no avail and pretty much forgot about it. Now we are in the age of computers and I recently ran across a reference to it. My first stop was Wikipedia which gave me a list of ingredients but no real recipe. Looking further I found a whole bunch of variations including the more modern ones which include avocado which I have not tried yet. Several tout being the original. One of the ingredients in only a few was chervil which led me to Penzeys Spices which I was lucky enough to have one two towns over to the East. So I started playing around using both dried and fresh herbs until I found the one I liked. After making a half dozen batches, 2 with fresh herbs, this is what I have decided is my base recipe:

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1TB dried tarragon
1TB dried chervil
1TB dried chives
1/2ts black pepper
1/2ts kosher salt
1TB lemon juice
1TB minced garlic
3 anchovy filets

Mix in a blender and chill for at least a few hours for the flavors to blend. Note that this is thick so initially you will have to use pulse and let it drain back down and as you go on you can increase the blending time.

Now to the variations:
Parsley is an acceptable substitute for chervil and more widely available
Fresh herbs can be used instead of dried, use at about twice as much.
Fresh herbs really do enhance the flavors and make it greener in color.
I use a jarred version of minced garlic but fresh might be better.
Several recipes call for 2 to 1 ratio of mayonnaise to sour cream. I did not like it as well but some folks might.
I have not tried it yet but you can substitute an avocado for half or all of the sour cream.
You can increase or decrease the amount of any of the herbs to fit your taste.

As an aside: While at Penzeys getting the chervil I told them what I was making and they mentioned they sold an herb mix that is blended with mayonnaise, water and vinegar. It was an OK dressing on it's own, and much easier to make, but entirely different than the traditionally made dressing.

This dressing/dip was "the" thing until ranch dressing came out which is easier and less expensive to make. I like the Green Goddess much better.