Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Creamy Feta Dressing

I love it when I find a simple recipe that gives me an "aha" moment. That's what happened when I saw a recipe for a creamy feta dressing in Marcy Goldman's book, When Bakers Cook.

I make a lot of Greek-style salads with chunks of feta cheese. Little crumbs of cheese always break off and combine with the dressing, making it a little creamy.

But it never dawned on me to blend the feta with the dressing to make a creamy dressing. It makes perfect sense, though, right? You get a taste of feta in every bite.

The instructions say you should do the mixing in  a food processor, and I did that. but afterwards, I decided that I wanted it a little smoother, so I used a stick blender to puree it even more. Whether you need to do that or not might depend on the feta you have. Some are a little more crumbly than others.

Creamy Feta Dressing
Adapted from When Bakers Cook by Marcy Goldman

4 ounces (about 1 cup) minced feta cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil, as needed

In a food processor, blend the feta and mayonnaise until smooth.

Add the salt, pepper, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano, and smaller amount of oil and blend until smooth.

Add more oil, as desired, to get a salad dressing consistency.

Taste for seasoning and adjust as desired.

Keep refrigerated. Shake or stir well before using on your favorite salad. I found that it didn't separate a lot during storage, but it's always a good idea to give you salad dressings a little shake before serving.

Note: This dressing will thicken as it chills but it will thin out again if you take it out of the refrigerator for a short while before serving - how much it thickens depends a bit on the olive oil you use. Some get pretty thick while refrigerated.


Besides serving this on a basic green salad, I also drizzled it on sliced cucumbers, chunks of tomato, and slivers of Greek pepperoncini. Looks good, right?
Yum