Friday, September 12, 2008

Weekend Cookbook Challenge 32 - Garlic

September's Weekend Cookbook Challenge is being hosted by Carla at Chocolate Moosey and garlic is her theme, which is fantastic; garlic is one of my favorite ingredients.

Garlic made it into my ABC's of food, and is just as good for you as it is tasty. Carla asked that our dishes for WCC feature garlic as a key ingredient, and this one sure does - garlic salad dressing.

I found the recipe in Quick Vegetarian Pleasures by Jeanne Lemlin. This book is a real treasure, there are so many wonderful recipes.
Before I share the recipe with you, look at this little mixer I bought from the grocery store. It was in the discount bin and I paid about 3 bucks for it. It's from Starfrit, but I can't find it on their website. You toss all your ingredients in, put on the top, and squeeze the little tab on the top to make the blades spin. It's no more effective than a bowl and a whisk really, but it does have measurements on the side, and it provides a nice workout for your thumb while you mix.
So! This dressing could not be more simple. Whisk together 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used low fat), 1/2 cup low fat plain yogurt (I used non fat), 2 chopped garlic cloves (I used 4!), 1 tsp Dijon mustard, and 2 Tb lemon juice. The recipe as written didn't call for any salt or pepper, which I thought wasn't right, so we added some S&P.
Mix it up, and then let it chill for a while for all the flavors to blend.
Pour it over your salad, or serve as a dip for veggies, or even chips.
This was so nice, very creamy, and VERY garlicy. But that's not a complaint, that's a complement! This is definitely a keeper.

Get your garlic filled recipes to Carla by September 30. Her email is mooseymoosecc at hotmail dot com.

9 comments:

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Garlic dressing! That just right. Cute little mixer too.

Anonymous said...

Neat recipe! I wonder what it would be like if you used roasted garlic?

Sara said...

Tanna, this is my new favorite dressing!

Mike - I wondered that too. One of us should try it.

Annie said...

You are brave using 4 cloves of garlic and not of Italian decent!?
May the force be with you. LOL
Just teasing, I love garlic too, pass the dressing please!

Sara said...

Annie, I'm not Italian, but I will be safe from vampires for the next month!

Carla said...

Mmmm I should definitely make this dressing! Thanks for entering :)

Ruth Daniels said...

Sara, that cookbook is still one of my favorites. In fact, when each of my daughters left home to live on their own, I bought them copies and annotated my favorite recipes.

Thanks for reminding me of it. With all the cookbooks I get to review, I forget about my own special ones on the shelves.

Deb in Hawaii said...

I have had that cookbook for years and just love it. lots of great recipes. I'll have to try this dressing--I love garlic. I forgot about the challenge this month--I need to think of something and get it in.

Katie Zeller said...

Creamy garlic... Perfect!
Darling little mixer/thumb exerciser