Original video by @BrianLagerstrom — all credit to the creator.
Upgraded Wedge Salad with Bleu Cheese Dressing
A classic wedge salad taken up several notches: an ice-cold, hollowed-out iceberg quarter drenched in herby homemade bleu cheese dressing and piled with crisp baked bacon, brunoise tomato, and rinsed red onion. Every bite gets dressing, crunch, and smoke.
Ingredients
Bleu Cheese Dressing
- 85 gbuttermilk · 5 ¾ Tbsp
- 35 gsour cream · 2 ½ Tbsp
- 150 gmayonnaise · ⅔ cup; Duke's strongly preferred
- 5 ggarlic powder · 1 tsp
- 5 gonion powder · 1 tsp
- 2 gsalt · ¼ tsp
- 35 gbleu cheese · ¼ cup, very finely chopped
- 8 gfresh dill · 3 Tbsp, chopped
- 8 gfresh chives · 3 Tbsp, sliced
Wedge Salad
- 450 gregular-sliced bacon · 1 lb
- 1 large headiceberg lettuce · quartered
- 1red onion · brunoise diced and rinsed
- 1beefsteak tomato · seeds removed, brunoise diced
- —bleu cheese crumbles · extra, for topping
- —fresh chives and picked dill · for garnish
Steps
- 1
Bake the bacon at 350°F on a parchment-lined tray for 18–20 minutes, until dark and rigid. Drain the fat by propping up the tray, then cool and dice into small bits.
- 2
Make the dressing: whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, mayonnaise, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, dill, and chives. Fold in the finely minced bleu cheese.
- 3
Quarter the iceberg and remove the core. Pull out the center three layers of each quarter to create a valley for the toppings.
- 4
Cover the wedges in damp paper towels and freeze for 10 minutes to maximize the crunch.
- 5
Finely dice the red onion and rinse it under cold water to take the edge off.
- 6
Seed and dice the tomato, and prep the remaining herbs and bleu cheese crumbles.
- 7
Place a chilled wedge in a bowl and sauce it heavily so the dressing works down into the layers. Add the bacon, tomatoes, onions, and herbs.
- 8
Spoon a base of dressing onto a plate, set the loaded wedge on top, and finish with a final drizzle of dressing and extra bleu cheese crumbles.
Creator's notes
Duke's is strongly preferred for the mayonnaise. Freezing the wrapped wedges for 10 minutes is what makes the lettuce extra crisp, and rinsing the diced red onion takes the raw bite out.
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