Udi's Bakery and Restaurant Italian Dressing

Source: Udi's Bakery and Restaurant, Denver, Colorado

Yield: About 2 1/2 quarts

1 quart red wine vinegar
2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled
1 small red onion, peeled and quartered
1 tablespoon sea salt
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
2/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/6 cup dried basil
1/8 cup dried oregano
1/8 cup honey
3 cups canola oil
Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon

* Pour vinegar into blender. Add the garlic, onion, salt and pepper and puree. Next, blend in the mustard, Parmesan, herbs and honey.

* While blender is running at lowest speed, slowly add the oil to emulsify. Blend in the lemon juice.

* Note: Quantity is large enough that you may have to blend in two batches. The most important part is the emulsion of oil into the vinegar. Divide the vinegar and oil into two separate, even batches and emulsify each batch one at a time (it doesn't matter which batch gets the remaining ingredients - when done blending both, whisk emulsions together.)

* Dressing works well on pasta salads and keeps up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Nutritional information per 1/4 cup serving: 161 cal., 16 g fat (1 g sat.), 0 mg chol., 2 g carb., 0 g pro., 0 g fiber, 218 mg sodium