Memorial Day is right around the corner. There will no doubt be copious amounts of barbecue, beer, wine, and lots of sides. If we are lucky, there will also be a sufficient amount of beautiful sunshine, too. Why not add something fun, impaled, and moveable to the mix? I am a huge fan of anything poked with a stick, and I can’t wait to get the skewers out again, so when I saw these salads in the June issue of Food Network magazine I had to bite. All of them had appeal, but I have my doubts about skewering a hard-boiled egg, and am not so sure about poking a wooden skewer through a crouton. But the Steakhouse Salad? I was sold. Bacon, blue cheese, poke it with a stick… you got me. Yes, it’s a salad, but it’s not what you’d expect, and you can get just about anybody to eat something when you put it on a pointed stick and tell them they can run with it.
The Blue Cheese Dressing recipe that follows is from the Iceberg Wedge Salad recipe I posted back in 2015. Also a great crowd pleaser, if you’re not inclined to poking and threading your salad. If you’re time crunched, you can always use a store-bought dressing that you like, but give this home made recipe a try. I think it is, by far, the best blue cheese dressing recipe I have found and tastes just like what you get when you order a salad someplace out. You can make it ahead, which is always a good idea, and let the flavors develop. You may even be lucky enough to have some left over to bottle and keep in your fridge for the next week.
Have a great Memorial Day. And stock up on those wooden skewers.
Steakhouse Salad
- 1 head Iceberg lettuce
- 1 lb. thick cut bacon
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
Cut lettuce into smallish, skewerable-sized wedges. Cook bacon until lightly crisp and then cut each strip into 2 inch sections. Skewer wedge of lettuce, piece of bacon, and cherry tomato – 2 times for each skewer. Serve with blue cheese dressing.
Blue Cheese Dressing
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 heaping tablespoon finely chopped shallot
- sea salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3/4 cup light sour cream
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped chives
- 1/2 cup crumbled mild blue cheese
- freshly ground black pepper
Combine 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, chopped shallot, and a pinch of sea salt in a small bowl. Let stand. Measure 1/2 cup milk (I used skim, but you can use 1%, 2%, or whole) and remove 1 tablespoon. Add 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar and stir well. Let stand.
Add sour cream, chives, and blue cheese to shallot and vinegar. Add milk, starting with 3 tablespoons, whisking well, or use an immersion blender. Add more milk to adjust consistency if desired. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Donna Ferguson
I love to cook, garden, and write about all the things in Vancouver and the Northwest that make life so great.