‘Green Goddess’ Salad Dressing

Published by

Jasmine

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Today I’m sharing another summer favourite for me: my take on a Green Goddess salad dressing, which typically contains green herbs and leaves and some kind of creamy base to create an emulsion. My version is tangy, fresh and full of flavour; even the blandest salad is something I look forward to eating with the help of this dressing…

INGREDIENTS

Greens:

Fresh dill

Fresh parsley

Fresh spinach

Everything else:

Unwaxed lemon (so you can use both the juice and zest)

Olive oil

Garlic

Full-fat Greek yoghurt (if using vegan, ensure it’s tangy-flavoured and has a decent enough fat content to create an emulsion)

Italian hard cheese (such as Pecorino, Parmigiana Regiano or a rennet-free alternative – make it vegan with nutritional yeast)

TIPS

There are just two steps that will lead you to success with this recipe. Firstly, I really recommend following my instructions below to blanch the spinach rather than throwing it in raw; this will really help to retain that lovely green colour that makes this dressing look so appetising. Secondly, it’s important to combine the ingredients gradually and not just dump everything into your food processor (it might work with a super high-speed blender but it’s just a bit risky) – with the greens in particular you anticipate to add a small amount in, blitz that, add a little more, blitz again and so on. This ensures they fully integrate into the dressing and everything emulsifies together. These ingredients naturally want to separate out so it’s our job to force them together!

I served this dressing over a salad made with tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, red pepper, olives, fusilli and cannellini beans

Green Goddess Salad Dressing

  • Servings: 3 salad servings
  • Difficulty: Medium
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A fresh and tangy salad dressing with yoghurt and greens

Blender / food processor required, no advance prep needed


Ingredients

  • 10g of dill (de-stemmed and roughly chopped)
  • 20g of parsley (de-stemmed and roughly chopped)
  • 50g of baby leaf spinach
  • 1 unwaxed lemon (juice and zest)
  • 10g of Parmigiana Regiano (finely grated)
  • 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic (crushed)
  • 100g of full-fat Greek yoghurt
  • Salt and pepper to taste


Directions

  1. Boil the kettle and prepare a small bowl of cold water with ice (or just very cold water)
  2. Into a second small bowl, pour the boiling water
  3. Using a pair of tongs, submerge the spinach in the boiling water and stir around for 1-2 minutes until just wilted, at which point you can dunk it directly into the ice water
  4. Using a piece of cheesecloth or a mesh sieve, squeeze the excess water out of the spinach and chop it roughly
  5. Blitz together the yoghurt garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest and Italian hard cheese
  6. Once it’s smooth, add the olive oil and a little of the spinach and fresh herbs, blend until fully incorporated
  7. Continue to gradually add the greens, blitzing the mixture so the greens are incorporated bit by bit
  8. Season the dressing to taste and serve it over your salad

Let me know if you try this salad dressing!

See a more detailed version of how I make the dressing here:

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