Green Goddess Dressing
The Palace Hotel in San Francisco, once the world's largest hotel, was destroyed in the 1906 fire and rebuilt. A decade later they came up with this refreshingly different dressing. Nowadays it's often associated with New Orleans, where they treat it as a French-style sauce. It's literally mayonnaise with herb oil added.
This is a subtle yet powerful dressing, usable for salads, seafood, and more. Don't overdo it, as less is more.
Ingredients
Herb Oil
- 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, providing the famous green color
- A handful of scallions
- A small handful of chives
- A generous pinch of thyme leaves
- 1/4 cup tarragon leaves
- ¾ to 1 cup neutral oil (Light Olive Oil or Avocado Oil work well; EVOO is likely too strong)
Dressing
- 1 egg yolk, for emulsion and creamy texture
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, to stabilize the emulsion and provide structure
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar, for acidity and depth
- Lemon juice, to taste
- White pepper, to taste
- Optional 2 oil-packed anchovy fillets (not white anchovies) for extra umami depth. Highly recommended.
Method
Make the green oil
- Blend the herb oil ingredients until completely smooth and vividly green. Use a blender that can handle a small amount of ingredients.
- Rest 10 minutes to allow chlorophyll and fat-soluble flavors to fully infuse the oil.
- Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing gently to extract the green oil. Discard solids; we only want the infused oil.
Complete the dressing
- Place the egg yolk, Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, anchovies, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a pinch of white pepper in a tall, narrow container.
- Use an immersion blender to blend briefly until homogeneous and slightly frothy.
- Keep the blender head on the bottom of the container and slowly pour the herb oil in. You should quickly see the thick dressing forming.
- Refrigerate for 10 minutes to let flavors deepen and the structure to settle.
This dressing is basically a mayonnaise and should coat the back of a spoon. If it turns out watery, that implies too much oil.
Serve or store.
Storage
- Refrigeration: up to 3 days, airtight.
- Freezing: not recommended.
- Reheating: do not heat.