The perms were courtesy of my father who was a hairdresser.

I grew up in a very frugal household. There wasn’t a lot to go around between myself, two brothers and my mother so what was put on the table was what you got. My mom didn’t let anything go to waste. As a notorious “picky eater”, if I didn’t eat something the night before I ate it the next day.

That being said, blue cheese was not one of those foods that sat on my plate. First off, it was rare in our house unless it was in the form of Wishbone Dressing…the one with the green cap. In the 70’s even the basic mass-produced stuff was expensive and was a rare find our town’s small supermarket. If you wanted good cheese you had to look for it in a gourmet market.

Then there were the rare times my mom bought some for real blue cheese dressing for dinner with my dad. My parents were divorced when I was a year old but he visited weekly and we stayed with him often. I specifically remember one time when I spent my meager allowance (mom pitched in) on the stinkiest of blue cheese to make dressing for my dad. It was stinky, it was sticky and I LOVED it.

I’ve been hooked ever since.

For the past few years I’ve been using a smoked blue cheese for my dressing.

Smoked Blue Cheese crumbles perfectly…

It’s not gooey, yet its oily and crumbly which, in my opinion, is better for dressing.

For this recipe there are multiple levels of leftovers that can be used. I use the brine from a jar of olives for all sorts of things including this blue cheese dressing. I use it in margaritas, dressings and sauces. Why pour it down the drain if you can use it to add texture, liquid and salt to your recipes?

Got peperoncini or pickle juice? You can do the same thing. Peperoncini brine adds heat and great color and the pickle juice adds dill, sweet or heat depending on what kind of pickles are in your fridge.

Me? All are in there because we love pickles.

If you only have a little bit left don’t throw it out…add it to the new batch.

This is an incredibly simple recipe and easily adaptable to what is or isn’t in your fridge.

Tonight, I still had leftover dressing from last week so I added it back  to the finished product after I was done taking pics for this post.

Smokey Blue Cheese Dressing

Smoked Blue Cheese (I like Salemville Amish Smokehause).

Sour Cream (beware of low fat. It’ll be too thin).

Mayo and/or Plain Greek Yogurt.

Olive, Pickle, Peperoncini brine of your choice.

Salt & Pepper (course ground is preferred).

Mason Jar (or another container) to make in and store the finished dressing.

1. Add to the jar any leftover dressing. Rinse and recycle the old container.
   

   I don’t go crazy on the cheese. As much as I love it I also want to taste the brine, the sour cream and the pepper.

2. Gently loosen a chunk of the smoked blue cheese into crumbles and add to jar. It should break pretty easily as seen to the right. Add as much or as little as you like.
3. Pour in as much brine as to cover the blue cheese by about 1/4 inch.
4. Close jar and shake to liquefy the oil and small bits of cheese. This will ensure that the blue cheese flavor will infuse into the dressing as a whole.
5. Open and plop in sour cream. Stir.
   

   I like a lot of pepper in my Blue Cheese Dressing…

6. Next add in Mayo / Yogurt to taste and stir again.
7. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and give one more last shake.