Green Goddess

I am a stickler when it comes to salad dressings.  I can be seen using olive oil and vinegar with a few turns of fresh grated pepper before you’ll catch me pouring dressing from a bottle that came from a shelf in the grocery.  I prefer whisking together my own ingredients and often the dressing is based on what’s in the frig and pantry.  If I’m too lazy to perform the task of making fresh, homemade salad dressing I’d still rather go with simple oil and vinegar, sometimes just vinegar.  I love that seasoned rice vinegar sprinkled on any salad, it’s so refreshing.  Sweet and tangy all at the same time.

Today I’m sharing a recipe for Green Goddess dressing.  I’ll admit now that I didn’t have anchovy paste in the pantry so my dressing is sans anchovies.  I imagine the salt content might be overload for me had I used anchovy paste anyway.  The fragrant herbs used in the dressing filled the kitchen with notes of licorice from the tarragon and that sweet but peppery fragrance of oregano.  The dressing is creamy, aromatic and addictive.  It would also make a heathy dip for veggies or crackers.

I became curious about where this dressing with this fabulous name came from.  Green Goddess – sounds so exotic.  Reminds me of Absinthe, but you won’t go crazy or cut off  your ear if you have a little dressing.  I’ve posted a short bio along with the original recipe below so you too will know how it came to be.  The Palace Hotel is in San Francisco.

The History of the Green Goddess Dressing 

The Green Goddess Dressing was created at the Palace Hotel in 1923 by
Executive Chef Phillip Roemer.  Chef Roemer created the dressing for a
banquet held at the Palace. The event was honoring actor George Arliss
who was the lead in William Archer’s hit play “The Green Goddess”.

Original Palace Hotel Green Goddess Dressing

Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or minced scallions
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry, and minced
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

Stir all the ingredients together in a small bowl until well blended (or if you prefer your dressing creamier, throw it all into a food processor or blender and pulse for 30 seconds.) Taste and adjust the seasonings. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate.

I served the dressing over a salad of leaf lettuce, with toasted pine nuts, and thinly sliced ricotta salata.  Ricotta Salata being a pressed, salted, aged and dried variety of the Italian ricotta cheese.  Ricotta salata is of a consistency perfect for shaving or grating, unlike its moist, creamy cousin, which most of us are familiar with.

Below is my version of Green Goddess Dressing.  Enjoy!

Green Goddess Dressing

Ingredients:
4 tbsp. low-fat plain yogurt
2 tbsp. light sour cream of Mexican crema (I used the later)
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon
1 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano
2 scallions, green part only, thinly sliced

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor; purée until smooth.