Eat this. You'll be hooked.

I am totally hooked on the Blue Cheese Wedge Salad at Courtside Grille in the Carillon area of very northern St. Petersburg. Or maybe it's Clearwater. Anyway, it's on Ulmerton Road. Go there and order it. OR, grill a steak tonight and make this salad to go with.

Talk about a throwback. Ever since we discovered baby greens with names like frissee and mache and radicchio, we've kicked iceberg to the curb. But sometimes, the ice cold coolness of iceberg can't be beat. It's the perfect foil for high-flavor blue cheese. This recipe takes Courtside's version one step further, by adding bacon and chopped tomatoes. (Courtside serves it with a heat-seeking scallion.)

Man, I'm hungry. Gotta get to the store.

Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

1 head of iceberg lettuce, cut into 4 wedges, rinsed and well drained
1 cup dairy sour cream (do not use no-fat) OR 3/4 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons buttermilk
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
8 tablespoons crisp cooked crumbled bacon
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped tomatoes

Core lettuce head and cut into 4 wedges. Rinse, drain well and pat dry. For dressing, mix sour cream with buttermilk and vinegar until smooth. Stir in 1/2 cup crumbled cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

Drizzle 1/4 of blue cheese dressing over center and down sides of each lettuce wedge on a serving plate, using amount desired. Using remaining 1/2 cup blue cheese, sprinkle some over each wedge. Then top with a sprinkling of bacon and tomatoes. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

NOTE: To make center cut iceberg lettuce salads, cut head of lettuce crosswise into slices and proceed as directed above.

Source: Los Angeles Daily News

Comments

[Missy]

I picked up a huge carton of feta cheese at Sam's a couple of days ago, then saw this recipe when I was browsing around your blog. I decided to try this with feta instead of blue, I used "homemade" buttermilk (milk & vinegar), and then crispy-cooked pancetta instead of bacon. No tomatoes, though, only because I didn't have any on hand.

Anyway, it was a definite winner. LOVED the feta! Even my pickiest kid thought it was great.