Blue cheese and tarragon dip/dressing

Contributed by Preston Maring, MD


Blue cheese and tarragon dip/dressing

The farmers' market in Oakland sometimes hosts field trips. The high school kids did some comparison shopping to calculate the cost difference to buy lunch ingredients from the grocery store and the farmers' market. My goal is to create a farmers' market convert or 2 out of the class. 

For lunch, I made 2 kinds of salads, whole grain rolls from the organic bakery, and fresh fruit for dessert. One salad was a grilled chicken Caesar. I made the dressing in this recipe for the second salad. 

This recipe can either be used as a dip, leaving out the yogurt, if you want to eat your veggies in chunks, or as a dressing for salad.

Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces Blue cheese — I use Point Reyes Blue because it's local
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried (the golden 1 to 3 ratio of dried to fresh for most herbs)
  • 1 tablespoon honey (microwave for 30 seconds on high to melt from solid)
  • 1 tablespoon nonfat Greek style yogurt (more liquid than some other styles)
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Mash everything except yogurt together in a bowl with a fork. 
  2. Mix in the yogurt if you are making a dressing. 
  3. Season to taste and enjoy.

Nutrition information (per serving)

  • Calories: 158
  • Total fat: 14 g
  • Trans fat: 0 g
  • Cholesterol: 11 mg
  • Total carbohydrate: 6 g
  • Sodium: 272 mg
  • Protein: 3 g