Sunday, April 3, 2011

Cilantro Ranch Dressing


Have you ever been to one of those popular Mexican restaurants (Bajio, Café Rio, Costa Vida, etc.), and tasted the amazing cilantro ranch dressings that they have there? With very, very little trouble, I made basically the same thing. Simple, quick, low-fat, and awesome.

Most recipes call for sour cream, buttermilk, mayo, and ranch dressing mix, and are very high in fat. We have a favorite ranch dressing that we buy from a local diner-type restaurant that has all those things in it, but is also low-fat (although you’d never tell from the taste of it). I decided to use that as a base instead of buying all the ingredients separately, and it was perfect! Make as much or as little as you want, and vary the amount of the ingredients according to your preferences.
Cilantro-Ranch Dressing

1 cup buttermilk ranch dressing (use your favorite)
1 bunch of cilantro (the picture is a lot less than 1 bunch - I forgot the take the picture until I was almost done!)
1 tsp minced garlic
¼ tsp cumin
¼ tsp chili powder
1 tbsp lime juice

Wash the cilantro and separate the leaves from the stems. Discard the stems. A few stems won’t make a big difference, but too many of them blended up in there can create a weird texture.
In the blender, combine the ranch dressing, garlic, ½ of the cilantro leaves, seasonings, and lime juice. Blend thoroughly, then taste. Add more cilantro leaves, seasonings, or lime juice until you get the consistency and flavor that you like. We like a lot of cilantro and a good amount of lime juice – make it your own!

Pour into a jar or cruet and chill for an hour before serving.

We had this over southwestern-esque salads: lettuce, black beans, corn, tomato, onion, grilled chicken, a bit of cheese, avocado, and toasted tortilla strips (so easy – check out tortilla soup), and this amazing dressing on top. This will last about a week in the fridge, so we usually have this meal three times or so in that time. And since all those things are easy to have on hand in the fridge, it’s a light, easy, very yummy meal.
See my attempt at interesting food photography? FAIL.

*For a really good variation on this, add 2-3 three tomatillos (green tomato-looking thingys), husks removed, washed, and quartered, to the blender. You can also add a few stalks of chopped green onions, and a pinch of cayenne. We just like the regular version, because it’s really quick and simple, but still great-tasting. Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. This sounds amazing! We always have a bunch of cilantro in our fridge so this is definitely going on the "to make--pronto" list :) Thanks for sharing!

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