From Kathy-

So my first attempt at Thomas Keller’s recipes was a FAIL. 🙂 I tried making garlic aioli, and boy did I learn a lesson….olive oil and canola oil do not emulsify together. Rookie mistake.

My next attempt I had some experience under my belt and I decided to try the classic Wedge Salad. My local Safeway did not have all the special ingredients so I had to do a little ad hoc of my own.

I’m realizing there is a lot of steps to Keller’s recipes, which also means a lot of flipping back and forth through the cookbook. The User Experience Designer in me is screaming on how this is a pain…and the Print Designer in me is screaming that the book publisher made the size of the cookbook too wide and they didn’t include page numbers on every page. Ok…so now that I’ve complained about the exterior of the book, the contents are what matters. 🙂

First step, emulsify the olive to make your own aioli. Never done this before. I now have a jar of mayonnaise in my fridge to eat up this week. It kind of amazed me on how it looks exactly like store bought! I guess I’ll be either making sandwiches or potato salad this week.

Then mixed in buttermilk and Mexican sour cream (substituted for crème fresh). I chopped up some mint, flat leaf parsley and green onions (which I substituted for the chives).

Folded in some crumbled blue cheese and behold…delicious-ness.

Fried up some bacon, and then topped it with tomatoes (which I was supposed to roast them…but too many steps makes me impatient) so I just used fresh. Same with the croutons. Safeway didn’t have brioche, and the clerk didn’t even know what it was. Whole Foods next time will be my destination for the next recipe.

It was very good and would definitely keep this dressing recipe in my book for another time.