When Johnny Carrabba and his uncle Damian Mandola opened the first Carrabba’s restaurant in 1986, they used a
collection of their own traditional family recipes to craft a terrific Italian menu. You’ll even find the names of friends
and family in several of those dishes including Polio Rosa Maria, Chicken Bryan, Scampi Damian and Insalata Johnny Rocco. Now we can easily re-create the taste of the delicious dressing that’s tossed into the salad served
before each Carrabba’s entree. And we need only six ingredients. For the grated Parmesan cheese, go ahead and use the stuff made by Kraft that comes in the green shaker canisters. And if you don’t have any buttermilk, you can substitute regular milk. Since it’s so thick, this dressing is best when tossed into your salad before serving it, just like the real thing.
MAKES 1CUP
INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup mayonnaise ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese ¼ cup buttermilk
- 1½ teaspoons minced garlic ½ teaspoon minced fresh parsley
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl.



