If I were to choose only one meal I could have forever it would probably be a salad with all the toppings that I want. This Wedge Salad by Tasty Kitchen member Lindsay was just that: lovely greens topped with crunchy, salty, sweet, creamy goodness.

To make it you will need: blue cheese, bacon, shallots, Greek yogurt, buttermilk, iceberg lettuce (or romaine will also work nicely), red and white wine vinegar (or in my case, sherry vinegar), mayonnaise, cherry tomatoes (I used a big juicy ripe one), and flour. Also, chives would be nice for a garnish if you have them handy.

You’ll start by rendering the bacon in a pan over medium heat, letting all of the fat bubble until the bacon becomes crisp on both sides. Then you’ll remove the bacon to a paper towel and save the fat in the pan.

Next thinly slice your shallots and separate the rings.

Give your lettuce a rinse and pat it dry. Lindsay used a nice wedge of iceberg, but since I happen to love romaine, I just took off the inner leaves and layered them on top of each other. It had a nice crispness the way iceberg would. Go wild with your lettuce I say!

Dice your tomato. A medley of grape or cherry tomatoes would be nice here, simply cut in half. Or if you have a big tomato, give it a nice bite-sized dice.

Toss your shallot rings into a bit of flour.

Get your bacon fat hot again and drop in the shallots to let them fry.

Keep turning them so they cook evenly and are nice and brown.

Add them to the paper towel with the bacon and as they cool, they will crisp up more.

Start dressing the salad! Add the tomatoes, blue cheese, and crumble the bacon in your hands and sprinkle it over the lettuce.

Then add your crispy shallots all over.

Next you’ll make your dressing, which is a lovely dressing to have on hand should you decide to make a larger batch in advance. Start by combining mayonnaise and Greek yogurt.

Then a bit of buttermilk.

Then a sprinkle of blue cheese.

Then your vinegar. Lindsay used red and white wine vinegar but I happen to love this sherry vinegar I had on hand so I threw in a dash of that. Lindsay also added a bit of sugar, which you could do as well if it suits your taste buds. You can play here.

Mix it all up with a spoon and drizzle it onto your salad.

It is creamy and delicious and crunchy and otherworldly.

It’s a perfect meal when you’re dining solo on a summer afternoon. Or any day of the week or time of the year. I would eat this all the time.

Thanks so much to Lindsay for sharing this with us! Check out her website Perfecting the Pairing for other tasty treats.

Printable Recipe

Wedge Salad

by Lindsay on May 30, 2012 in Salads May 30, 2012 Salads

See post on Lindsay’s site!

5.00 Mitt(s) 1 Rating(s)

Prep Time: -

Cook Time: -

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6

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The retro wedge salad is upgraded with a homemade blue cheese dressing and crispy shallots.

Ingredients

• FOR THE SALAD:
• 6 strips Bacon
• Oil, For Frying
• 8 whole Shallots, Sliced Into Rings
• ¼ cups Flour
• Salt To Taste
• 1 head Iceberg Lettuce, Cut Into Wedges
• 1 pint Grape Tomatoes, Halved
• FOR THE DRESSING:
• 2 ounces, weight High Quality Blue Cheese, Crumbled
• ¼ cups Plain Greek Yogurt (light Or Fat Free Is Fine)
• ¼ cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Of Low Fat Buttermilk
• ¼ cups Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon White Wine Vinegar
• ½ teaspoons Red Wine Vinegar
• ½ teaspoons Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• Pepper To Taste
• 1 Tablespoon Minced Chives

Preparation Instructions

Fry bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy. Drain bacon on paper towels. When cool enough to handle, crumble it and set aside.

Add 1 inch of oil to a pan, heat over high heat. Toss the shallot rings with flour until coated. Once the oil is hot, add one shallot to test the temperature, it should start bubbling immediately. If the oil is hot, add the remaining shallots and fry until golden. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Season generously with salt while still warm.

For the dressing, in a small bowl, add the blue cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, mayonnaise and vinegars. Mix until combined. Stir in the sugar, salt, pepper and chives. You can also use store-bought dressing if time is short.

To serve, place a wedge of lettuce on the plate, top with tomatoes, crumbled bacon, blue cheese dressing and crispy shallots.

 
 
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There’s so much to say about Georgia, we don’t know where to start. Leaving Wall Street for the French Culinary Institute, followed by a stint at the Gramercy Tavern and La Chassagnette in France, her passion for food and food traditions are evident and inspiring. Visit her site at Georgia Pellegrini, where you’ll find more recipes, photos, learn all about her wonderful books Girl Hunter and Food Heroes, and enjoy her latest adventures.

 
I love homemade salad dressing, but for some odd reason, never make it! Then, after having dinner at a friend’s house a few weeks ago where I tasted the most delicious homemade dressing that she just whipped up a few minutes before the meal, I got inspired. I was ready.

Good salad dressing really does “make” the salad, plus it’s super easy! I mean, it only takes five minutes, if that! In the time it would take you to find good bottled dressing in the grocery store and make it through the check-out lane, you could have your own homemade dressing already on the table.

So, after eating at my friend’s house, I came home and searched Tasty Kitchen for simple, homemade salad dressings. This Fresh Ginger Dressing by afarmgirlsdabbles immediately caught my eye! It’s absolutely addictive and turns regular ol’ salads into something magical. Try it and taste for yourself!

I told you it’s super easy! All you need to make this dressing is vegetable oil, rice vinegar, salt, pepper, honey and fresh ginger, of course.

If you don’t like using fresh ginger because it’s a pain to peel, allow me to share with you this little secret a chef I used to work with taught me, and that is using a spoon to peel the ginger! Just lightly scrape the thin skin off with the edge of a spoon and it comes right off. It makes all those crevices much easier to peel. Once you do the spoon trick, you’ll never go back. Trust me on this.

To make the dressing, just put all the ingredients together in a pint-sized jar and shake, shake, shake!

Keep. On. Shaking!

Now you have your own sweet and spicy ginger dressing. It tastes just like the kind from my favorite Thai restaurant in Florida.


The recipe says that this dressing will stay fresh in your fridge for a week in a Mason jar. I’ll definitely be making this all summer long! Thanks for the lovely recipe, Brenda (who shared it from her grandma’s recipe box!). Have you visited her blog A Farm Girl’s Dabbles yet? You must. You simply must.

Printable Recipe

Fresh Ginger Dressing

by afarmgirlsdabbles on May 7, 2012 in Salad Dressings, Salads May 7, 2012 Salad DressingsSalads

See post on afarmgirlsdabbles’s site!

3.67 Mitt(s) 3 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: -

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 10

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Sweet and full of zing, this fresh and easy ginger dressing promises to be your go-to salad topper of the summer!

Ingredients

• ½ cups Vegetable Oil
• ½ cups Rice Vinegar (or Regular White Vinegar)
• ⅓ cups Honey
• 1 Tablespoon Grated Fresh Ginger
• Pinch Of Kosher Salt
• ⅛ teaspoons Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preparation Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a pint jar and shake vigorously. That’s it! Serve with your favorite fresh greens. Keeps well in the refrigerator for 1 week.

Adapted from my Grandma Renelt’s recipe box, one of my favorite recipes in all the world.

 
 
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Jenna is a food writer who has worked as a pastry chef and bread baker. Her blog Eat, Live, Run has great recipes, travel stories, and the perfect slogan: “Celebrating life, one crumb at a time.”

 
Aren’t simple recipes the best? Tasty recipes that call for a few simple ingredients, and very little fuss are the ones I turn to time and time again. They’re easy to remember, usually cost very little, and more often than not, with little to muddle the flavors of the few ingredients involved, they usually taste better. When I saw this lightened-up version for Strawberry Sherbet submitted by Stephanie, my infatuation for everything frozen kicked in, but the list of simple ingredients called out much louder. It certainly was easy, and didn’t last long once it was ready.

Wanna see how to make a batch for yourself?

You’ll only need a few things: fresh strawberries, low fat milk, fresh lemon juice, sugar, and of course, an yogurt/ice cream churn/maker.

Begin by puréeing the hulled strawberries in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Pour the puréed strawberries in a bowl. I left the strawberry seeds in, but if you don’t care for them, simply pour the mixture through a mesh strainer first. Add the milk, lemon juice, and sugar.

Stir or whisk together until combined, then cover and refrigerate until well chilled.

Once chilled, pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Such a pretty color, isn’t it? It makes me ready for summer.

You can serve the churned sherbet right away, or freeze for a couple of hours until ready to serve. I transferred the sherbet to a freezer container, and then covered it with plastic wrap before adding the lid.

Note: I found that it was the perfect consistency after about 3-4 hours in the freezer, but much longer and it gets very hard, requiring some thaw time on the counter before dishing up.

This Strawberry Sherbet was light, fresh and not too sweet—the perfect start to warmer weather! The process was so simple, I’m thinking of trying it with different berries and fruits. My mind is churning and so will my ice cream maker. Thanks Stephanie! Visit her blog Eat. Drink. Love. for more of her lovely creations.

Printable Recipe

Strawberry Sherbet

by Stephanie { Eat. Drink. Love.} on March 26, 2012 in Desserts, Ice Cream March 26, 2012 DessertsIce Cream

See post on Stephanie { Eat. Drink. Love.}’s site!

4.00 Mitt(s) 1 Rating(s)

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: -

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6

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Homemade strawberry sherbet. A great low-fat alternative to ice cream!

Ingredients

• 2 cups Hulled Strawberries
• 2 cups Low Fat Milk
• 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
• ½ cups Sugar

Preparation Instructions

1. Place strawberries in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. If you do not want the seeds, pour the mixture through a mesh strainer and into a bowl. Otherwise, just pour the puree directly into a bowl.
2. Stir in the milk, lemon juice, and sugar. Refrigerate at least 2 hours (if not overnight) until the mixture is thoroughly chilled.
3. Pour the chilled mixture into the bowl of an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Note: If you want to lower the sugar in this recipe, you can cut it in half. You can also use a sugar substitute.

 
 
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Amy Johnson is a blogger who writes about food, travel, the home (both inside and out), and various observations and random musings about anything and everything. Visit her blog She Wears Many Hats for a dose of deliciousness, practicality, hilarity, or just plain fun. She lives in South Carolina with her husband and two children.

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