SERVES: 6
TOTAL TIME:25 minutes
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS A crisp, chilled wedge salad is an ideal accompaniment to a steakhouse-style dinner: cool, crunchy iceberg lettuce, rings of red onion, a slice or two of beefsteak tomato, and creamy blue cheese dressing. A sprinkling of diced bacon is the pièce de résistance. But trying to replicate the wedge salad at home isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Many blue cheese dressing recipes yield gloppy dressings that sit like a gluey paste on the lettuce, or thin dressings that slide right off the lettuce wedge, or mass-market cheese. Here we used lots of crumbled Stilton—there’s a reason the British call it the “king of cheeses.” For balanced creaminess and tang, we included both mayonnaise and sour cream. A little milk thinned it to just the right consistency to nap the iceberg wedge. To assemble the salad, we decided on shallots rather than red onions, soaked briefly in vinegar to tame their flavor (and we used that vinegar in the dressing). Cherry tomatoes were a more flavorful year-round choice than beefsteak tomatoes. And, oh yes—the bacon. This wedge salad is so good that you barely need that T-bone.
- INGREDIENTS:
- 1 large shallot, sliced into thin rings
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 4 slices bacon
- 4 ounces Stilton blue cheese, crumbled (1 cup)
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 head iceberg lettuce (2 pounds), cored and cut into 6 wedges
- 12 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Combine shallot and vinegar in bowl and let sit for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook bacon in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until crispy, 5 to 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel– lined plate; set aside.
- Using fork, remove shallot from vinegar and set aside. Whisk 2 tablespoons vinegar, 3 ounces Stilton, mayonnaise, sour cream, milk, garlic, salt, and pepper in bowl until combined.
- Arrange lettuce wedges on platter, drizzle with dressing, and top with reserved shallot and tomatoes. Crumble bacon over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 ounce Stilton. Serve.
