Olive Garden Salad Dressing Recipe

My all time favorite salad dressing is the house dressing that so graciously caresses the tender lettuce and tomato of an Olive Garden salad. I do not know the exact recipe, but the one I use sure tastes close. My wife likes it because it seems lighter than the one Olive Garden serves, but it still has that great, tangy flavor.

This is the one I use quite often:

Ingredients

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup corn syrup

1/8 Cup grated Romano cheese


1/8 Cup grated Parmesean Cheese

1 egg white

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1 pinch dried oregano

1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes



Directions

1. Combine all of the ingredients with a mixer on medium speed or in a blender on low speed for 30 seconds.

2. Chill at least 1 hour.

3. Serve over mixed greens.

For the salad, I combine:


1 bag of American style salad
1/2 Red onion, sliced
1/2 Can black olives
1 tomato, sliced
banana peppers

These two recipes go well together!!

Grilled Chicken

Today, I decided to grill up a few steaks and a couple chicken pieces that were on sell at HEB. The steaks are for tonight and the chicken pieces are for tomorrow or Sunday.

I love perfectly grilled chicken thighs. While tuning in to watch the Cotton Bowl this afternoon, my alma mater is Texas Tech who received a really nice whooping I might add, I thought about how I wanted to marinade these babies.

So, I poured a bottle of Italian dressing into a Ziploc bag along with 1/2 cup vinegar, 1 TBSP Cayenne, & 1 TBSP Cumin.

I added the chicken to the marinade, removed the air from the bag and let it sit in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.

About 1 hour before I cook any meat, I pull it out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temp. I have found that meat cooks much easier and better this way. If meat is cold when you put it on the pit, the outside will be over-done before the inside is done.

When I build a fire in my pit, I like to stack to coals to one side. I can grill indirectly or directly over the coals. I usually grill chicken indirectly and then finish it over the higher heat if the skin needs browning.

To make sure the meat is fully cooked, purchase a digital meat thermometer. This will insure that the thickest part of anything you cook reaches the temperature you desire.

Anyway, happy grilling!!

The Smoker King
http://www.thesmokerking.com

New Outdoor Cooking Blog!

Hello everyone!! Welcome to Outdoor Cooking with The Smoker King, a blog to accompany my website, http://www.thesmokerking.com. I post lots of pages on my site with new recipes and cooking ideas all of the time, but I thought I would give this a shot to write down some of my ideas in a non web page format.

Anyway, welcome to my blog and I hope you all visit my website too!!

The Smoker King
http://www.thesmokerking.com