Restaurant-style creamy parmesan peppercorn dressing that is perfect for salads and dips! find out the secret ingredient that makes this a 5-star dressing!
So last weekend Mr. Fantabulous and I went over to a friend’s house to help him (okay the hubby did as I’m clueless when it comes to guitar stuff) replace some tube thing-a-ma-bob in his head (apparently that’s known as an amp) and do other boy stuff that required power tools (that I’m not allowed to play with), headlamps and all kinds of cool stuff. LOL
TKW Family Love
Made it. LOVED it! In addition to using it as a salad dressing, we put it on sliced avocados, sliced tomatoes, as a dip for cucumbers and carrots, and lasts but certainly not least – as a sandwich spread!!!!
Actually, I was totally cool with that as I really like his wife and finally got to see their cats. Now see I’m HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY allergic to cats/dogs/horses – pretty much everything BUT I ♥ ’em (well okay, I don’t like mice or those other creepy things). Finally, the one cat let me pet him and play with him so life was good even though my eyes were swelling up, I was sniffling like a fool, starting to wheeze and itch all over. Don’t care – would totally do it all over again. And okay yeah, next time we are going there I’ll remember to take my allergy meds.
Well, Mr. Fantabulous was hungry and invited us along on their dinner (he has a way.. LOL) but they were cool with it (weren’t you guys???). Anyway, we went to this local restaurant by their house that they recommended. The food was good but they had this Parmesan peppercorn dressing that was TRULY sinful. Like so good!
TKW Family Love
OMG!!! This is so easy and absolutely delicious. From this day forward I will never buy pre made again!!!! I have also found another fantastic website!! Keep them coming!!!! This will be dressing a freshly grilled steak salad tonight, on a hot Summer evening!!! A glass of cabernet too!
Picking apart a dish
They got to talking amongst themselves and apparently, I spaced out as I got super quiet. See – I do this thing where I tend to stare off into space when I’m tasting something I really like. I’m not really daydreaming but rather I’m picking apart the ingredients.
I have a highly sensitive palate so I can easily pick apart dishes and figure out what’s in them. That’s the hardest part. The easy part is just figuring out how much of each. Well apparently they were staring at me so I explained what I was doing. I was then told that if I figured out the recipe that they were going to marry me. LOL Love it! Now for me.. that’s a challenge. I LOVE being challenged to figure out something but then make it better.
The very next day I decided to work on figuring out the recipe. I could pick out discernible parts of the recipe – buttermilk, mayo, garlic, spices, pepper, and cheese (duh… I know! It’s in the name!) and etc. When I made the initial batch, while good, it was missing something. Like a more stable base. I then added some other stuff and that made it better but it still wasn’t up to my standards.
So there I stood, fridge wide open (as my husband would say – cooling down the kitchen) just staring at the stuff in there. That’s when it hit me. AH HA! I knew what was missing. I make this other creamy/rich dressing and this is the pièce de résistance! Cottage Cheese! OH SHUSH! Quit making that face! Trust me, THIS is the secret behind almost any fantabulous creamy thick dressing. Swear!
Folks let me tell you what – this was so good that literally, I couldn’t wait to go to work on Monday to have my friend try it. I know… crazy! Impatient to go to work… on a Monday?! But that’s how good this dressing is!
I could not wait to have this on a salad. I’ve literally eaten this EVERY day since Sunday from having it on salads to using it as a veggie dip to crackers to… *my finger* LOL
I HIGHLY recommend making a salad consisting of the following ingredients:
Spinach
Raisins
Sunflower Seeds (Salted)
Shaved Carrots
Toasted Pecans
Grilled Chicken, Tuna, or Grilled Turkey
Use this dressing on top and you will never, EVER use another dressing!
Now the bad news about this dressing – it’s fattening. Like really, REALLY fattening. I did try to lighten it up but hated it. There are some things in life that you can’t make ‘healthy’. So my best advice to use is to eat this in moderation, adjust your daily intake and work out!
So to our new dear friends, Alan and Teresa, thank you for the challenge. This one is for you guys ♥
TKW Family Love
Made this today. Very good. Kinda get burned out of Ranch all the time, so this was delightful instead.
Would def recommend.
Creamy Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing
Restaurant-style creamy parmesan peppercorn dressing that is perfect for salads and dips! find out the secret ingredient that makes this a 5-star dressing!
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Category: dressing, dips, condiments, salads
- Method: blender, food processor
- Cuisine: dressing, dips, condiments, salads
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup sour cream (full fat)
- 1/3 cup whole fat cottage cheese
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup super fine grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon garlic (2 whole cloves)
- 3 teaspoon white wine vinegar (has to be white wine)
- 1/2–1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1–2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a blender add in the cottage cheese and blend until smooth.
- Add in the mayo, sour cream butter milk, cheese, garlic and vinegar.
- Blend until well combined.
- Pour into a bowl and add in the salt & pepper.
- Stir to combine.
- Taste and adjust pepper to liking.
- Transfer to a glass lidded jar and chill for at least 1 hour.
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