DIPPING SAUCE – CARRABA’S KNOCK OFF

A few years ago, my daughters and I made a homemade mozzarella cheese. We wanted something to go with it and came up with a dipping sauce to drizzle over it. It was good, but was lacking…something.

Then, we went to Carraba’s for dinner. Their dipping sauce is uh-mazing! Give me a loaf of French bread with dipping sauce and I am in my happy place. I asked the waiter for the ingredients, but he couldn’t give them to me. He did tell me there were 16 differents spices in it. Really?

This is not their recipe but it hits all the taste bud notes. It is great drizzled over mozzarella, used for dipping bread into, eating with a spoon…just kidding, but you could!

1 tablespoon basil

1 tablespoon parsley

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt (start with less if you don’t like a lot of salt)

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Chop all ingredients, except olive oil and lemon juice, until very fine. You can use a food processor if you prefer. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and combine.

When ready to serve, add 1/2 teaspoon herbs to a small plate and add 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil. OR…do as we did and put all the herbs into a bowl and add olive oil until you reach the desired consistency.

We used this for fresh mozzarella and crusty bread as a snack…doesn’t get much better than this.