Parmesan Peppercorn Salad Dressing

 

With few exceptions, I make my own salad dressing. Having more than once read the ingredients on bottled salad dressing, I tend to shy away from those. There’s really nothing to making your own salad dressing, particularly if you have a mini food processor to blend everything together for you. It emulsifies salad dressing like nobody’s business, even better than those you buy in the store that will occasionally need a good shaking. You just have to make up your mind that you’re going to do it, and once you do, not only will you enjoy it, but you’ll start to experiment like I did with this dressing. Give it some thought. It’s economical, the quality control is unbeatable, and the taste and freshness is phenomenal.

 Parmesan Peppercorn Salad Dressing

½ c. buttermilk
½ c. Duke’s mayonnaise
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
Juice of ½ lemon
1 t. Dijon mustard
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
¼ t. kosher salt

Combine all ingredients with either a mini food processor, or by whisking to within an inch of your life. Cover, refrigerate. Keeps 7 to 10 days.

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Olive Ham Salad

How did the holidays turn out for you? Ultimately, mine were reasonably good although they didn’t turn out entirely as anticipated. Due to illness, the dinner that I made for Christmas Eve was only enjoyed by my son and me. It was a pretty fancy dinner for just the two of us, but I think we really enjoyed not just the food, but the time that we spent together in such elegant surroundings.

 I sent him home with plenty of food, but I still had a good bit of ham left, as well as the ham bone. I set the bone aside to use in pea soup, used slices in casseroles and sandwiches, and decided to toss what was left into the food processor for ham salad. Generally, when I make ham salad I use sweet pickle relish, but because I had gotten a glazed ham that had a lot of its own sweetness, I decided to replace the sweet pickle relish for olives. It made a wonderful difference!

Olive Ham Salad

 ¾ lb. piece of baked ham, cut into chunks

1 rib celery, cut into fourths

1 scallion, cut in half

10 small pimiento-stuffed olives

1/3 c. Duke’s mayonnaise

1 t. Dijon mustard

Few gratings ground black pepper

Put all ingredients into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until. Cover and chill for at least a Cover and chill for at least an hour before serving to allow flavors to meld.

This will keep up to three days, covered and refrigerated.

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Loaded Cheese Toast

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If, like me, you are a fan of the savory rather than sweet breakfast, then you are probably familiar with cheese toast. It’s simple, satisfying, and so delicious. But, if you decide that you want to make that cheese toast a little more special than your day-to-day variety, this is one you definitely need to try. You can assemble all of the ingredients the night before (in fact, it’s wise to do so, in order to allow the flavors to meld), and then just spread it on to a thick slice of baguette, sourdough, or Texas toast, and run it under the broiler until it’s hot and bubbly. It can also be spread into a pie plate, and baked at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, and served with toast points, or wedges of apple. Baked in individual ramekins, it can be most welcome when you have overnight guests, are serving social-distance appetizers, or even if you want to treat yourself. 

Loaded Cheese Toast

8 oz. smoked Gouda cheese, grated

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

½ c. Duke’s mayonnaise

½ c. plain Greek yogurt

1/8 t. cayenne pepper, optional

1 c. crumbled, cooked bacon, reserve 1 T. for garnish

¼ c. chopped scallions, reserve 1 T. for garnish

Place above ingredients (except that reserved for garnish) into a medium mixing bowl. With a hand mixer, at medium speed, beat until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Spread onto thick slices of sourdough, baguette, or Texas toast. Broil until hot and bubbly; serve. Store cheese mixture, covered, in the refrigerator. Keeps five days.