Green Goddess

This ol’ gal is the new "It Girl"

When I was 15, I worked at a restaurant called The Quarterdeck. It was your typical small town- fine dining type place—char-broiled steaks with wedge fries, seafood, and chicken stuffed with ham and cheese. It was quite a popular place, I would see everyone from my high school teachers (weird) to the mayor there on any given night. Now that I look back and knowing what I know now about the restaurant business having owned them for over 25 years, I cannot believe the place stayed in business so long. There was nothing but a bunch of my high school friends cooking back there, all the seafood went from frozen to fryer all while I was bussing tables decked in my blue chambray shirt, dungarees, and white cotton belt. A stylish swab-ette

As I said, it was a small town and the choices were few. 

I can’t speak much to most of the cuisine at The Quarterdeck, but one thing, and one thing only stands out in my mind about the food, the Green Goddess dressing was supreme. It was part of a little relish tray served to every table upon ordering. It was the most popular dressing for the salads and what I ate every night for my free meal. We were allowed to eat all the leftover relish trays at the end of the night. (Things like that were done back then.)

I ate my second-hand crudities with copious amounts of Green Goddess.

Years later as I started developing recipes for my own places, I knew that a Green Goddess dressing would be a must. I know that there are many interpretations of this storied dressing, but one thing they all have in common is it must be green. And it’s hard to get an appetizing color of green in cookery, so I will tell you my secret, shhhhh, fresh spinach (or arugula.)

My version has been updated over the years, made a bit cleaner and healthier but still packs that herby, salty, unctuous, punch that I remember from my early restaurant days.

A Beautiful Green, Green Goddess Dressing

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup mayonnaise, I like Chosen brand

1 ripe avocado

¼ cup chopped chives

2 cloves garlic

2 anchovy filets

1 tsp prepared mustard

1 TBS capers

1 dill pickle chip (if you have a jar in the fridge otherwise omit)

1 packed handful fresh baby spinach, or arugula

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix (just go with it)

Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until

incorporated and smooth but slightly textured. If too thick add

a tablespoon of water at a time until desired consistency. I like to keep this

on the thicker side so that it’s good for dipping on my relish tray. It’s great

on greens, over steaks or drizzled over grilled vegetables.