Showing posts with label Salad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salad. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Salad??? Yeah.. Beefsteak Tomato, Butterhead Lettuce, and Bacon with Blue Cheese Dressing


Yield: Makes 4 servings
Active time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min


Big chunks of sun-ripened tomato and soft leaves of butterhead lettuce—Boston or Bibb, for instance—are topped with a creamy blue cheese dressing (fine-tuned with a wizardly touch of bacon fat) and plenty of crisp homemade bacon bits. It is a familiar yet striking kickoff to a bucolic meal seriously focused on produce.


Ingredients:

6 bacon slices, chopped
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons whole milk plus additional if necessary
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 scallion, chopped
1 cup crumbled blue cheese (1/4 pound), divided
1 (1/2-pound) head Bibb or Boston lettuce
1 large beefsteak tomato, cut into wedges


preparation:

Cook bacon in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain, reserving fat in skillet.


Whisk together 1 tablespoon hot bacon fat, sour cream, milk, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper until smooth. Stir in scallion and 2/3 cup blue cheese. Thin with additional milk if desired.


Quarter lettuce lengthwise (through stem) into wedges, then remove core and arrange each wedge on a plate with tomato wedges. Stir dressing and spoon over top. Sprinkle with bacon, remaining 1/3 cup blue cheese, and pepper to taste.