Mar142013

Creamy Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing

So last weekend Mr. Fantabulous and I went over a friends 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), head lamps and all kinds of cool stuff. LOL 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 food, 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???). Any way, 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! 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 day dreaming 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 somethings life that you can’t make ‘healthy’. So my best advice to use is 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 ♥