FETA CHEESE DRESSING

After weeks of baking cupcakes and cookies...I felt the need for salad.  A wedge salad specifically.  I love iceberg lettuce.  I don't care what anyone says about the lack of nutrition...I love it.  The crisp cool taste is my favorite lettuce.  The only problem with most restaurant wedge salads is 9 times out of 10, their dressing of choice is Bleu Cheese.  Now, it is okay.  But I LOVE the same basic dressing, made with Feta Cheese instead.  There's still a tart bite...but not quite as sharp.  My hubby and my mom will both order Bleu Cheese if the restaurant has it, but not me.  I either go for a Vinaigrette/Italian, Ranch, or Catalina.  At home, I mix up a little container of balsamic vinaigrette and have it on hand just for me.  No one else likes it. 

Anyway, I was flipping through the Dining With Diane book I mentioned last month and saw a Feta Cheese Dressing from the old Basil's Restaurant in Austin.  I mixed up a batch and it tastes wonderful!

Spooned over a wedge of iceberg lettuce with some crumbled crispy Applewood Smoked Bacon I brought home from Central Market, some thinly sliced green onion, a sprinkling of avocado, and a generous handful of diced cucumber.  Pretty much my idea of a perfect salad.  I decided to make just a half batch actually...so I'll detail the exact amounts I used today below the original recipe.

Try this salad dressing - it's lip smacking deeelicious!

FETA CHEESE DRESSING
Recipe by Bruce Silverman, Basil's Restaurant
Dining with Diane - The Austin Restaurant Cookbook
by Diane Payton Gomez

1/2 pound feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 large clove garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice
dash Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Stir mayonnaise, buttermilk and sour cream together until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients including feta cheese.  This recipe will make enough for 2 or 3 large salads and will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 10 days.

HALF RECIPE

1/4 pound feta cheese, crumbled (I actually used more like 3 oz.....half of a 6 oz. container of Athenos traditional crumbled feta)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used Hellman's)
2 Tablespoons buttermilk (I used the buttermilk from the homemade butter)
2 Tablespoons cup sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped onion (I used very finely diced yellow onion)
1 small clove garlic, pressed
1/2 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice (I used lemon juice)
3 or 4 drops of Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Man, this is some good stuff!  This photo shows how much a half recipe makes... let it sit for about an hour before serving...lets the onion and the garlic get all snuggly with the creamy stuff...yum yum YUM!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!