I take my vinaigrettes and salad dressings very seriously. I consider them equally as important as the salads they serve to dress. So when I came across this red goddess dressing online, as opposed to the well-known green goddess version, I just had to make it.
The recipe is credited to chef Jonathan Waxman, no less, an American chef who’s considered one of the pioneers of California cuisine. Best I can tell, he has 3 restaurants and 3 cookbooks at this time.
Traditional green goddess dressing contains a mixture of herbs, thus the green color, but this dressing is colored by a roasted red bell pepper.
The salad he recommends to highlight the dressing is lettuce-based, with avocados and shrimp. Nice and light.
Red Goddess Dressing
1 roasted red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 shallot, sliced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 teaspoon minced jalapeà±o
3 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
In a blender, combine the roasted pepper, shallot, garlic, jalapeà±o, yogurt, vinegar and lemon juice and purée until smooth. Season with salt.
I took it upon myself to keep the jalapeà±o out of the puréed dressing; I don’t like the resulting color when red and green are pureed together! So I sprinkled the dressing with the minced jalapeà±o when I was ready to serve.
I also added the olive oil to my blender jar and shook it well. I didn’t like the idea of whisking the oil into the dressing.
The salad I made for this dressing involved lettuces, carrots, tomatoes, shrimp and avocados.
I seasoned the shrimp with salt and pepper, and I also used my new favorite salt for the avocados.
I must say that I knew this dressing would be good, but I didn’t know HOW good! The addition of the jalapeà±os is brilliant, and the salad really was perfect for the red goddess dressing.
