Dress to Impress

It’s spring, and veggies are in abundance. But healthy doesn’t have to equal boring. Take a cue from chef JESSICA CABO who incorporates creamy blue cheese to add flavor to a versatile dressing that can elevate a weeknight salad or a dinner party app.

“There’s a couple of smoked blue cheeses that I really love that we’ve gotten in: Smokey Blue by Rogue Creamery, which is out of Oregon, and another one called Moody Blue. So, when we do our blue cheese, I incorporate half of the blue cheese that is a regular, like Danish blue, and the other half a smoked blue, and it just gives it just such a great flavor,” says Cabo, executive chef of EAST Oceanfront Dining at the Blockade Runner Beach Resort.

Greek yogurt lightens up the dressing, replacing some of the sour cream and mayonnaise needed without sacrificing the smooth texture.

“It just makes it much lighter,” she says. “You can actually eat a dressing that you enjoy without it being so heavy and not good for you – instead of tossing the whole idea of a salad out the window.”

Keep an eye out for Cabo’s dressing on EAST’s menu with its blue cheese wedge salad and fried cauliflower. Or try it at home and dress to impress.

smoky blue cheese dressing

INGREDIENTS

4 ounces smoked blue cheese (such as Smokey Blue by Rogue Creamery)

4 ounces Danish blue cheese

1 tbsp granulated garlic

1 c buttermilk

1 c Greek yogurt

1 c sour cream

1 c Best Foods mayonnaise

Splash of red wine vinegar

1 tbsp salt

1½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp white pepper

1/8 c Tabasco green sauce

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS

Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl and stir until blended and creamy.

Pour liberally on wedge iceberg lettuce with halved cherry tomatoes, radishes, crispy bacon or pancetta, croutons, green onions, and cracked black pepper.

Alternatively, use the dressing as a dip with crudité or wings.

Recipe courtesy of Jessica Cabo, executive chef of EAST Oceanfront Dining (blockade-runner.com/on-site-dining/east-oceanfront-dining)

Photo by Matt Ray, courtesy of EAST. To view more of photographer Matt Ray’s work, go to mattrayphotography.com.

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