Cooking web notes

Iceberg Wedge with Roquefort Dressing

My parents were huge fans of Roquefort dressing so I grew up enjoying it from a very young age and it’s my absolute favorite salad dressing. 

Do you call it Roquefort cheese or blue cheese?  It can not be called Roquefort cheese dressing unless Roquefort, France is the provenance of the cheese you use; it is not to be confused with blue cheese. 

Roquefort is a blue cheese which is a general term for cheeses which have been inoculated with Penicillum mold cultures, forming dark streaks or veins of blue-green mold.  There are many varieties of blue cheese with the famous ones being Roquefort, Gorgonzola and Stilton ~ most of them having a unique pungent aroma and a tangy strong taste. 

Roquefort is known as the king of cheeses and is named after the village of Roquefort in Averyon, in the south of France.   It has quite a legend with its discovery:  A young man was eating his lunch of bread and ewe’s milk when he noticed a beautiful girl in the distance.  Leaving his meal in a nearby cave, he ran off to meet her.  Upon returning a few months later, mold had changed his plain cheese into the veined cheese. 

In bygone days, the cheese was left to develop its flavor in the mold-filled soil in the caves for 6 to 8 weeks until it had absorbed the mold.  Nowadays, for greater consistency, the mold is produced in labs.  And we owe this fabulous cheese to the boy who was enraptured with the beautiful girl in Averyon!

Now for the tangy sharp dressing:

Iceberg Wedge with Roquefort Dressing

Ingredients:

¼ cup lemon juice

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

¾ pound Roquefort cheese, at room temperature

6 tablespoons buttermilk

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1-3 garlic cloves, minced

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Method:

In medium mixing bowl, stir together lemon juice and olive oil.

Use a wooden spoon to mix in the cheese until it is of a lumpy, thick texture.

Blend in buttermilk, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt and pepper quickly so as to leave it lumpy.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve on a wedge of iceberg lettuce.

Top with more freshly ground pepper, if desired; I do!

Enjoy!!!

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 5:33 AM and is filed under Buttermilk, Garlic, Lemons, Lettuce, Roquefort, Salad dressings/Vinaigrettes, Salads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.