When I’m in the salad dressing section of a supermarket, I’ve been curious about the ranch dressing called Hidden Valley Ranch. It turns out there was a real ranch in Santa Barbara County, California. The owners were running a dude ranch in hidden valley and served their home invented dressing on salad to their guests for dinner. Their version used dried herbs. So, I decided to test this homemade ranch dip or dressing two ways. First the original way with dried and then with fresh herbs. Both are delicious, but if you can find the fresh herbs, that tastes better. What I also like about this recipe is that it is versatile and can be kept in your refrigerator for a couple weeks. I recommend doubling the recipe as you will have plenty to use as a dip for parties or as a salad dressing. For a dip, it will be thicker if you serve it cold. Or if you are using this for a salad dressing, let it come to room temperature and you can drizzle it easily on your greens!
Place fresh chives, parsley, dill and garlic in food processor.
Pulse until everything is finely minced. You can also cut by hand rolling the herbs and mincing with a knife as well as hand mincing the garlic. Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine completely.
Taste to see if more salt, pepper or cayenne pepper are needed. Cover tightly in a container and refrigerate. Because the dip thickens in the refrigerator, serve it as a dip cold or as a dressing room temperature for better drizzling. This recipe lasts a couple weeks in the refrigerator but chances are it will magically disappear sooner!