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Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

Source of Recipe

From "The Secret Ingredient Cookbook" by Kelly Senyei


Recipe Introduction

"There are two types of people in this world: those that love blue cheese and those that loathe it. The stinkier, the better, I say! I'll take it in dressing or dip form, broiled atop a steak, or tucked into savory turnovers. I'll especially take it paired with sweet, earthy beets and crispy bacon, which all come together atop a chilled wedge of iceberg lettuce. There's no need to roast the beets prior to puréeing them, since your food processor will do all of the work to tenderize the root veggie. The result is a bright pink dressing that's guaranteed to leave your guests guessing about the surprise addition."

List of Ingredients

For the dressing:
â—¦ â…“ cup mayonnaise
â—¦ â…“ cup sour cream
â—¦ 2 tablespoons buttermilk
â—¦ 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
â—¦ 2 medium beets, peeled and roughly chopped
â—¦ 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
â—¦ 1 cup blue cheese crumbles, divided
â—¦ Kosher salt and black pepper

For the salad:
â—¦ 8 slices bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
â—¦ 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
â—¦ 1 medium head iceberg lettuce, quartered
â—¦ 2 cups croutons
â—¦ ¼ cup chopped fresh chives


Recipe

Make the dressing:
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk, Worcestershire, beets, and garlic and process until smooth. Add ½ cup of the blue cheese and process just until combined. Stir in the remaining ½ cup blue cheese, then taste and season the dressing with salt and pepper.

Make the salad:
Cook the bacon in a large skillet set over medium heat, draining the drippings into a heatproof bowl as needed, until all the fat has rendered. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and reserve the bacon drippings.

Return enough of the set-aside bacon drippings to the skillet to make 2 tablespoons. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook over high heat, stirring, until blistered, about 3 minutes. Remove the tomatoes from the heat.

To assemble the salad, spoon about ¼ cup of the dressing down the center of each of four plates. Set a wedge of lettuce on each plate, then top with the remaining dressing. Scatter around the tomatoes, bacon pieces, croutons, and chives and serve.

Makes 4 servings