Combine the enhanced flavor of romaine with smidgens of bacon and our irresistible blue cheese dressing, and that old-fashioned wedge of lettuce becomes a slice of heaven.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 55 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Inactive: | 10 min |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 strips good-quality bacon
- 1 large egg
- 2 hearts romaine lettuce
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Blue Cheese Dressing, recipe follows
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup crumbled blue cheese (about 4 ounces)
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 shallot, peeled
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Lay the bacon strips on a roasting rack and bake in the oven until crisp, about 20 minutes. (To make bacon curls: Wrap each slice of raw bacon around a metal skewer in a barber-pole fashion and lay the skewers on the roasting rack.) Pat dry with a paper towel. When cool enough to handle, break into pieces or in half, if using curls.
- Put the egg in a small saucepan with enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, cover, and remove from the heat. Set aside for 10 minutes. Drain the egg and roll it between your palm and the counter to crack the shell, then peel under cool running water. Rub the egg through a fine-mesh strainer and set aside.
- Remove the large outer leaves from the romaine hearts and rinse. Chop these leaves into bite-size pieces and spin dry. (Use an extremely sharp knife to minimize bruising the edges.) Halve the hearts through the cores to make 4 wedges. Rinse under cold running water and shake to air dry.
- Divide the wedges among 4 plates. Mound some of the chopped romaine on top and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Spoon about 1/4 cup of Blue Cheese Dressing over each salad and top with some of the sieved egg and bacon. Pass the remaining dressing at the table.
- Pulse the mayonnaise, blue cheese, buttermilk, shallot, lemon zest, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and celery seeds in a food processor to make a chunky but pourable sauce. Stir in the parsley and season with plenty of pepper. Use immediately or refrigerate in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 811 |
| Total Fat | 78 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g |
| Carbohydrates | 11 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Cholesterol | 130 mg |
| Sodium | 1139 mg |
Reviews
I made this salad for Easter dinner and everyone loved it. The blue cheese is not over powering which is great because I am not a big fan of blue cheese, but this is delicious. I will definitely make this again.
This is excellent even without the egg (didn’t have time to boil one). We use the artisan romaine (actually just small hearts of romaine from Costco) and our homemade blue cheese. This is so quick and always delicious. Just slice the small romaine in half (for 2 servings), sprinkle with bacon and let individuals put on their own dressing. My new go to quick salad. Thanks.
Tasty and easy 🙂 I added a little more blue cheese to the dressing, and it turned out great!
This was very tasty! The dressing was just right… I added two extra eggs and just used a bag of prewashed romaine hearts…
Made this to go along with a flank steak of Emerils….This dressing needs NO SALT….I also didn’t have buttermilk so used milk and some white vinegar…
We served this for a large dinner party last weekend (10) and it was the elegant touch to the entire meal! Dressing recipe actually made enough for the 10 servings (not the four stated in the recipe)and was very thick, could have stretched it even more, by adding additional buttermilk. I also substituted feta cheese for the blue, since I am allegic to blue.
Great salad. Real crowd pleaser! For an added twist, drizzle romaine havlves with olive then grill cut side down on a smoking-hot grill pan or gas grill for 2-3 minutes. Then top with dressing, egg and bacon. Talk about good!!!
I think my sister summed it up with “never lose the recipe for the blue cheese dressing: it’s a show stopper”! I used an American gorgonzola which proved to be creamy and mild (for blue cheese). It’s only been a week since I last had it but I think a replay is in the near future!
I did not have celery seeds so I chopped up some fresh celery leaves, no shallots either so I minced a little bit of a Vidalia Onion. I used Hellmans Light Mayo and Maytag Bleu cheese. I also used a microplane for the egg, it worked out much easier than pushing it through a fine mesh sieve. Thank you Food Network for another great recipe.
The best bleu cheese I’ve had in a while