This recipe is all about the blue cheese shallot dressing, made with Point Reyes Original Blue—simply the best blue cheese to use in the kitchen. Make it a day in advance if you can, that way the flavors have time to mingle. Set out the platter with little plates and individual dipping bowls and you have yourself a party!
Deconstructed Waldorf Salad with Amy's Blue Cheese Dressing
makes one platter serving 6–8 people as an appetizer or brunch side dish with enough dressing for leftovers (3 cups); adapted from Food & Wine magazine, December 2010
Ingredients
- 1 shallot, minced 2 tablespoons
- 2 tablespoons white wine or Champagne vinegar
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ¾ cup mayonnaise Best Foods
- ¾ cup sour cream Straus Family Creamery or Horizon
- 6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled Point Reyes Original Blue
- a couple pinches of flake salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper
Waldorf Salad items:
- 1 small head radicchio (“radicchio rosso di chiogga”) or treviso (“radicchio rosso di treviso”), with the elongated leaves
- 4 endive, bottom trimmed and leaves separated
- 2 apples, cored and sliced and spritzed with ½ a lemon to prevent discoloration
- grapes, cut into personal-sized clusters
- toasted walnuts 350°F for 10 minutes
Instructions
Amy's Blue Cheese Dressing
-
Macerate the minced shallots in the vinegar for 10 minutes—this mellows out the shallot.
-
Mix together the buttermilk, mayonnaise, and sour cream in a bowl or 4-cup glass measure. Crumble in the blue cheese, add the macerated shallots and vinegar, and mix and mash using a whisk or spoon. Season with salt and black pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use. (This dressing will keep for a week, refrigerated.)
Deconstructed Waldorf Salad
-
Assemble on a platter: radicchio and endive leaves, apple slices, grape clusters, and toasted walnuts. Set bowl of blue cheese dressing in center or nearby. Enjoy!
