Summertime is all about fresh-from the garden salads, with vine-ripened cucumbers and tomatoes, and sunshine you can taste. Drizzle a tangy, herby, buttermilk dressing over the top of your veggies, and you will reach late-August nirvana, my friend.
If you haven’t worked with buttermilk, now is your chance to experience a little something new and wonderful. Buttermilk is fermented milk, that is cool, tangy and thick. It’s probiotic, which aides in digestions, and is loaded with essential nutrients. It is also great to use as a base for marinades.
Fresh herbs are the foundation of everything I cook, so I grow them in my garden, in pots, and even as landscaping. I use a lot of fresh herbs. Always. Herbs are so powerfully flavorful, that you don’t need to add extra fats to make food delicious.
Herby Buttermilk Dressing
For this buttermilk dressing, I used the tender herbs of summer, like basil and dill, along with the hardier parsley and chives. The beauty of buttermilk is that it will absorb the flavors of whatever you add to it. Sometimes I add tarragon, lemon zest and a dash of hot sauce… it’s all about what you have around or feel like eating with it. Go ahead, get creative!
- 1 cup of buttermilk (shake well to thicken)
- 1 Tbs sour cream
- 1 Tbs of each herb, finely chopped: basil, dill, parsley and chives
- 1 clove of garlic crushed
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Whisk the buttermilk and sour cream together in a small bowl.
- Add the chopped herbs and crushed garlic.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Let sit at least 30 minutes before serving.