We Italians have a big fault. Well, of course; but I was not talking about politics. I mean, we have a big fault food-wise. We don’t do dressings. We don’t understand them. We dress salad with oil, salt, vinegar, be it balsamic, white or red wine or maybe even apple vinegar; occasionally with lemon juice instead of vinegar. This is it. I personally don’t even use vinegar, and more often than not, I leave out even the salt. And it is only five years, maybe, that I dress my salad at all (a common trauma from bad food at school). We eat salads like everyone else does – it is after all one of the best office lunch fares on offer in many bars – but I’ve never seen any other dressing being used. Our creativity stops at the ingredients – solid ingredients – level. When abroad, one of our biggest problems is eating salad. Why do people insist on those horrible dressings? Why would you want to drench your poor, delicate, innocent leaves of salad in cream, of all things?
And yet, being the adventurous eater that I am, I knew I had to get it sooner or later. In the end, some dressings can really make your day. I don’t want to limit my culinary horizons in any direction. I even ventured on trying Paul Newman brand of dressing at a friend’s place, and boy, wasn’t I brave. At least it did not contain any obvious cream, but that is the only positive note I can find. But when I saw David sharing a dressing, and being, of all dressings, a blue cheese dressing, I immediately decided I was having it for lunch. You see, I am totally addicted to cheese. I don’t cook much with it – I like it in food, but I prefer that it gets my whole attention, possibly with some crusty bread. I don’t have a favourite cheese or even type of cheese; I tried quite a bunch of them and I love them all – apart from cheddar, but that is another story. I have poisoned more than one aeroplane and train cabin when travelling back from France with ample provisions of the stinkiest cheeses ever: I am so resilient to its smell, that natto’s smell does not put me off at all.
So, what was the verdict on this blue cheese dressing? Honestly, I’m torn. I would like to say I genuinely liked it, because I liked it, but actually I did like it much more over bread or crackers. It was ok on the salad, but I got bored with eating it after a mere plateful – I usually can eat a more significant amount of salad before getting tired of it. It is not going to land on my daily salad for sure. I liked the organic Danish blue cheese I used much better on pasta that night, or in chunks with the aforementioned salad. There is something about having milk and the likes over raw leaves that puts me off. I still have a long way to go before I can call myself a real expat. If you like creamy dressings though, I guess this one is a must. For sure it is the best one I have tried so far.
Blue Cheese Dressing
Ingredients:
50 gr blue cheese ( I used a Danish blue)
3 tablespoon buttermilk
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon creamy yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2-3 drops red vinegar
salt, black pepper to taste
Method:
In a bowl work the cheese with a fork, until it is creamy. Add buttermilk, milk and yogurt, one tablespoon at a time, and keep stirring until you get a cream. Add the lemon juice and vinegar, a bit of black pepper, and a bit of salt – taste because it will depend on how salty your blue cheese is. You may want to thin it a bit more with a little milk. It keeps for a few days in the fridge.
La caffettiera rosa 