Blue Cheese Salad Dressing

It was probably over a year ago that I first picked up a flyer in Zehrs, advertising Rosenborg blue cheese that was now made in Ontario. "Hurray!" I thought, because I've always really liked Danish blue cheese, and I ran around the store hunting for it. Of course I couldn't find it. All their Rosenborg blue cheese was imported from Denmark. I've been keeping an eye out for it ever since, but I only found a package of the Ontario-made stuff a few weeks ago for the first time. It is out there, but you will have to hunt, and maybe ask the dairy manager about it. It tastes pretty much exactly like the Danish stuff, which should be no surprise; it's yer basic mass-produced blue cheese: familiar and tasty but perhaps not very nuanced. Nevermind. I like it, and I'm happy to see it.

It's also starting to become possible to find blue cheeses made by much smaller cheesemakers, so keep an eye out for those too.

It's taken me a while to come up with a really good blue cheese dressing. I wanted it to be rich and cheesy but not too overwhelmingly full of blue cheese - somewhat contradictory desires. I've finally figured out that a little bit of Parmesan allows me to achieve that goal.

Makes about 1 cup
15 minutes prep time - 1 hour rest time

2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise (light is fine)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
black pepper and salt to taste
2 tablespoons finely minced chives (optional)

Grate the Parmesan and crumble the blue cheese into a small bowl. Mix in the mayonnaise, buttermilk and mustard. You may wish to add a little more buttermilk, if it seems too thick. Season with a good grind of black pepper. I didn't put in any salt; the two cheeses will bring quite a lot, but you may wish to add a tiny sprinkle.

Serve over green salad or as a dip for crudités.






Last year at this time I made Lemon Pudding.