THE ICEBERG WEDGE SALAD

Admittedly, iceberg lettuce on its own doesn’t offer much in the way of flavor or nutrition. But what it does have is crispness and moisture…a vehicle for your favorite dressings for instance. Who doesn’t like finely shredded lettuce on their burger? Or mixing it with chopped Romaine for a chopped salad? Some chefs have even grilled it before serving.

Most of it is grown in the fertile Salinas Valley in northern central California. There are litrtally thousands of acres of it and other lettuce varieties. It wasn’t until the 1920’s that it started to get shipped east in rail cars with refrigeration or iced down pallets. Then everyone was able to enjoy this most popular of lettuces. And one of the ways is with a Wedge Salad.

Basically, 1/4 of a lettuce head…topped with blue cheese dressing, cooked minced bacon, diced tomatoes, and, in ours today, crispy fried shallots. I recommend making your own blue cheese dressing…the bottled stuff doesn’t quite cut it.

So, please. Iceberg naysayers revisit this popular California vegetable! Besides, Bob’s Big Boy was serving a wedge back in the 50’s and 60’s with their burger combo plate.

This dressing recipe is enough for about 2-3 wedges.

Ingredients:

For the Blue Cheese dressing:

• 1/2 cup whole mayonnaise

• 1/4 cup of buttermilk

• 1/4 cup sour cream

• 3 tsp white wine vinegar

• 2 tsp minced garlic

• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 1 tsp Worcestershire

• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

For the salad:

• 1/2 head of iceberg lettuce

• 4 thick slices of bacon, cooked, finely diced

• 1 shallot, thin sliced

• 1 cup of diced tomatoes or sliced grape tomatoes

Directions:

• Remove the limp outer leaves of the lettuce and discard or save for another use. Slice the 1/2 head of lettuce in half down through the core. Using a paring knife, remove the core and discard. Place on a plate in refrigerator until ready to eat.

• For the dressing, mix all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

• For the fried shallots, peel and thinly slice the shallot. Heat canola oil in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add the sliced shallots and let them fry until golden brown, about 15 minutes on this heat level. Drain them (reserve the oil) and season with salt.

• Build the wedge any way you like…but don’t scrimp on the blue cheese dressing. Lay on the dressing, then the tomatoes, then the bacon, then the fried shallots. Give it a few good turn of fresh ground pepper before serving.