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.

Morning Glory (2010)

 
Most of the movies I have watched lately have not been that memorable.  Mostly sci-fi series.  I thought this one bore mention.  And yea, it's sort of a chick flick which means I don't have to think for 90 minutes or so.  The last time I watched a movie with Harrison Ford was Firewall (2006) and he was 64 playing a 30 something family man.  I thought he did a poor job of pulling it off.  This time he is playing a crabby old fart who has done and seen everything across from Diane Keaton who isn't any more lovable and they both pull it off well.  I enjoyed it.

Mustard potato salad

Yep, that is 5 quarts of potato salad in the 8 qt pot it was mixed in. I am not sure whether this recipe came from my mom's or dad's side of the family. I am guessing my dad's as they were more in to big family and church gatherings. As I remember it from about 5 decades ago the recipe goes something like this:

 a 10 lb bag of russet potatoes
 a dozen hard boiled eggs
 a quart jar of mayonnaise (Best foods, the only substitute I have found is the Albertson's store brand
 A small jar of dill pickles
 the juice from the pickles
 a head of celery
 a 3 lb bag of yellow onions
 a small jar of prepared mustard (this was before squirt bottles, 6-8oz I think)
Seasoned salt
Paprika to sprinkle over the top

As you can figure out this is enough potato salad to feed a small army and as an adult I have only made the full recipe a couple of times. I was conscripted labor on more than one occasion to help make this.:-) Here is the recipe as I made it for a potluck this last weekend:

5 lbs of potatoes
9 hard boiled eggs
3 medium yellow onions
4 big stalks of celery
6 dill pickle spears
24 oz of mayonnaise (Best Foods)
a few really healthy squirts of prepared mustard
1/4 cup of dill pickle juice
seasoned salt
Paprika for garnish

This is still a pretty good sized bowl of potato salad. Knowing the ingredients is only part of making the difference between a pretty good potato salad and a really great potato salad. First off I seldom measure anything unless I am baking so you have some room to experiment with your perfect mix. The potatoes should be about 1/2-5/8" cubes, the eggs should be about 3/8" cubed (just squished with your hands), the celery, onions and pickles should be 1/8-1/4" cubed. Yes, this is labor intensive.  The desired result is every bite should have the full complexity of the flavors. I tried for the first time in decades cooking the potatoes with the skins on, I did not like it then and it was still a mess now, not doing that again. Put the the potatoes in a pot of full boiling/lightly salted water and as soon as they are piercing tender take them to the sink and drop a bucket of ice on them and then run cold water over them before draining (if you have ever blanched vegetables for freezing this will make more sense). If you have time put the potatoes and peeled eggs in the fridge for an hour before combining them. Mix all the liquid ingredients and the seasoned salt in a bowl before folding them into the solid ingredients.  Refrigerate over night.

This is the 12 quart pot I grew up with making potato salad and a few other things. It will hold 10 pounds of potatoes and was also the only container in the house capable of holding 9-10 quarts of potato salad for serving. I am glad to now have it and it's lid back.

Dry Rubs

A friend asked me how I put together a dry rub.  For many years I used a dry rub from Susie Q in Santa Maria.  At one point a few years ago I was about out and wondered if I could just make the stuff.  So I looked at the label and figured it could not be too hard.  One thing I have figured out is there is really no right or wrong mixture of ingredients.  Just adjust to your taste.  In the picture are several ingredients that I only use from time to time to adjust the flavor.  Also is the bowl I use to mix it and the re-purposed jar I use to store it and apply it from.  What I am going to list is my standard base.  Remember that this is my choice of amounts and as I don't measure much of anything it is approximate.  Also you will note I am not using Penzey quality stuff and I doubt most of the store bought rubs do either.

4 parts ground garlic
4 parts salt
2 parts black pepper
This is where I stop when cooking salmon, trout, swordfish, etc

For other meats I will most often add
4 parts sugar
1 part paprika or chili powder (sometimes both)
1 part Italian spice or basil
This becomes my base mixture and all the other options you see are added usually in one part increments depending on my mood.

Flashbacks from the past

In the last month or so I have gotten involved with a Facebook page for my high school graduating class. I never really ran with the cool kids in school and do not recognize over half the 600+ kids in my class. It has been really fun connecting with some of my class, those I remember and those I don't. Many of the ones I have connected with have the means to go to meetups and such that I don't but some of the folks I went to school with are no longer alive and able to connect on any level so I consider myself lucky in many ways.

Modern car reliability

Recently I happened upon a report by JD Power that looked at 3 years of non maintenance repair frequency of single owner cars. It did not surprise me that Chrysler vehicles were at the bottom of the list. What I did find remarkable was even the worst brands averaged under 2 repairs during that time period. When I was younger I worked in service stations and auto dealers and most vehicles were back at the dealer more than 2 times in the first 90 days for non maintenance repairs. Combine the current repair numbers with the extended maintenance schedules and cars have really come a long way in the last 40 years that I have been driving.