Whenever we're at the beach and we grill steaks I love to serve this classic salad. With every bite is the crunch of the lettuce, the silky blue cheese dressing, and salty chewy bacon. The combination rewards us with an incredibly delicious salad and a bunch of oohs and aahs. It's also so easy to prepare. This last time I had all of the ingredients ready to go and then had some visitors. After chatting it up with some friends I noticed that the wedges were assembled. Thanks, boys! This is beach entertaining at it's best.
Ingredients for The Best Wedge Salad:
serves 4-6
Salad:
1 head of iceburg lettuce, cut into 4-6 wedges
4-6 slices crispy bacon, 1 piece per wedge
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
Blue Cheese Dressing:
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
1 shallot, diced
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
dash of hot sauce
dash of Worcestershire sauce
Time-Saving Tip: The dressing can be made up to 2 hours in advance and stored in the refrigerator. It might need to be thinned slightly with a few drops of buttermilk. The bacon can also be made in advance. It can be very gently heated in the microwave for just a couple of seconds.
Let's see what we need.
We're ready to make the salad.
Pulse the mayonnaise and shallot in a food processor until just combined and is still slightly chunky. Add the buttermilk and lemon juice and process for a few seconds. Then add the hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and pulse a couple of times.
Add 4 ounces of the crumbled blue cheese and pulse a few times until fairly smooth with texture. Now you're ready to assemble the salad.
They're ready! Don't they look great? These wedges are totally delicious and refreshing. The dressing is really the best I've had and is even yummy as a dip. Make a lot or make a few...this is the perfect recipe.
Enjoy!