Grilled Romaine Wedge Salads with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette (Video!)

This take on the classic steakhouse wedge salad uses romaine instead of iceberg, is grilled for more flavor, loaded with crispy bacon and juicy tomatoes, plus it's lighter thanks to a blue cheese vinaigrette! 

Hello! Did you miss me this week? Did you even notice I skipped my usual Tuesday post? When I set out to do this whole blogging thing seriously, I committed to posting twice a week and I've stuck with it for the most part. But, sometimes life gets in the way, and this week that was definitely the case.

I had big intentions of making a super duper awesome birthday cake and posting the recipe on Tuesday - because! - it was my birthday. But last week I came down with the first - and hopefully last - cold of the season and that cake never got made. So I treated myself by taking the day off to recover and regroup and celebrate my last hours on earth as a 31-year-old. There will be many more opportunities for cake in the future, but right now I'm hungry and definitely wish I had some leftover cake in the fridge. Womp womp.

Today is all about salad, which, no, is nothing like cake, but it's a damn delicious salad and much better for overcoming a head cold than a pile of sugar. Sidebar: you should always try to avoid sugar when you're sick because it feeds the bacteria/virus and will prolong their nasty effects.  Easier said than done on birthday week {wimper}.

I've been smitten with wedge salads ever since I worked at a Sullivan's Steakhouse in college. All entrees were served with a wedge salad, and it was us, the servers, who actually had to assemble them in the kitchen. We would go to the salad station and plop a big hunk of iceberg onto a plate, then break it open a bit in the middle. Creamy blue cheese dressing would get ladled all over, then topped with diced tomatoes, bacon bits, and more blue cheese crumbles. They were tasty, but not exactly the kind of salad that could be classified as "healthy".

This version is far from being the healthiest salad out there, but it's certainly a step up from the original and still has the same feel and flavor. In fact, I think it has even more flavor. Have you ever had grilled lettuce before? It seems counterintuitive and odd, but it totally works. You get some charred and slightly wilted pieces in addition to crisp and juicy pieces for a really awesome textural contrast. I like using romaine because it has more flavor and more nutrition than iceberg, plus, it holds up really well on the grill. I've swapped out the heavy mayonnaise-based dressing for a much lighter, much zippier blue cheese vinaigrette.

If you like a classic wedge salad, you're going to LOVE this one.

One Year Ago: I was livin' it up in Italy! Torino, Italy
Two Years Ago: Sesame Crusted Bristol Bay Wild Sockeye Salmon (PS: I'm hosting an awesome Wild Salmon dinner October 5th in Ithaca, NY with my Food Network Co-Star Emma Frisch! Check it out and purchase tickets here.
Three Years Ago: New Orleasn Style BBQ Clams

Grilled Romaine Wedge Salads with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

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This take on the classic steakhouse wedge salad uses romaine instead of iceberg, is grilled for more flavor, loaded with crispy bacon and juicy tomatoes, plus it's lighter thanks to a blue cheese vinaigrette!

• Author: Nicole Gaffney (ColeyCooks.com)
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 5 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: salad
• Method: grilled
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

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• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1-2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives, plus more for garnish
• salt and pepper to taste
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing lettuce
• 4 ounces tangy blue cheese, such as Maytag
• 1 large head of romaine lettuce, outer leaves trimmed and quartered lengthwise OR two smaller heads of romaine, halved lengthwise
• 8 strips of thick sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 2 plum tomatoes, diced

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Instructions

1. Make the vinaigrette by whisking together the vinegar, honey, chives, salt and pepper. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking, then continue whisking until it's emulsified. Crumble in the blue cheese and stir to incorporate. Set aside.
2. Preheat a grill or grill pan to high heat. Brush the lettuce all over the cut side with oil, or you can opt to spray them with a cooking spray. Lay the lettuce wedges on the grill cut side down, and allow them to cook until nicely charred, about 2-3 minutes. If the lettuce was quartered, be sure to gently turn it to allow charring on the other cut side. If halved, leave it as-is.
3. Carefully remove the lettuce from the grill and transfer to plates. Divide the blue cheese vinaigrette evenly among the 4 wedges, then top with bacon bits and tomatoes. Sprinkle with more chives if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

• Serving Size:
• Calories: 418
• Sugar: 7.1 g
• Sodium: 1318 mg
• Fat: 35.4 g
• Carbohydrates: 11.8 g
• Protein: 16.1 g
• Cholesterol: 44.1 mg

Keywords: easy, steakhouse, wedge, salad, romaine, blue cheese, dressing, vinaigrette, bacon, tomatoes, grilled