Blue Cheese Wedge Salad

There are people in this world who like blue cheese dressing and those that don’t. Then there are people like me: people that LOVE blue cheese dressing. Besides salads, I dip chicken wings and veggies in it, and have also been known to dab my pizza in blue cheese dressing as I take a bite. I know…I should probably seek counseling. While any blue cheese dressing will make me happy, I find that homemade dressings really do the trick. I’ve tried several recipes over the years - ones made with expensive imported cheeses from specialty stores and others made with the blue cheese crumbles found in every grocery store. To be honest, I find the dressings made with your run-of-the-mill blue cheese crumbles to taste the best, actually.

My favorite recipe of all was created by Ellie Krieger from the Food Network. This dressing is amazing and it’s sure to please any crowd – even you blue cheese lovers out there! It uses ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen and Ellie promises that it has fewer calories and fat than other blue cheese dressings. Something tells me that by eating half of the recipe below (it makes ¾ cups and 2 Tbsp is a serving!) completely destroys this theory, but somehow I feel better knowing I’m eating a dressing that’s a little better for me.

Aside from the dressing, this salad also has unique garlic breadcrumbs and spiced pecans. My family came to visit a couple months ago and I wanted to come up with a twist to the usual blue cheese wedge salad – these breadcrumbs and pecans are just that. They are the perfect complement to the dressing and are incredibly easy to make. While the dressing is Ellie’s, the breadcrumbs and pecans are my own.

For all you blue cheese lovers out there – Enjoy!

Time from prep to Eating: 20 minutes

 
Homemade Bread Crumbs
 

What You Need:
Cookie sheet

The Stuff:
Cubed day-old bread (estimate about 2 slices of bread per person)
About 1 Tbsp olive oil

Salt

Pepper
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder

Here’s What You Do:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place your bread cubes in one even layer on the cookie sheet. Drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle the bread with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder until desired flavoring (if you’re unsure about how much to sprinkle, use a 2-fingered pinch for each spice and sprinkle evenly over the bread). Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, flipping the cubes over after 7 minutes to brown both sides.

As your bread is baking, start on the spiced pecans.

Spiced Pecans

What You Need:

Small skillet

The Stuff:

1 small package (2.25 oz) of chopped pecans

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/8 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Here’s What You Do:
In the skillet melt the butter over medium heat then stir in the brown sugar until melted and slightly bubbly. Turn the heat to low then add the spices (chili powder to pepper), mixing until well combined with the butter and sugar. Add the pecans and cook for 5 minutes over low heat, stirring every minute or so to ensure the nuts don’t stick to the pan. Store in a cool bowl until you’re ready to top your salad.

Ellie’s Blue Cheese Dressing

2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 cup low fat buttermilk
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Fold a full sheet of paper towel into quarters and put it into a small bowl. Spoon the yogurt onto the paper towel and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to drain and thicken. In a medium bowl, whisk the buttermilk and thickened yogurt into the mayonnaise until smooth. Add the vinegar and sugar and continue to whisk until all the ingredients are well combined. Stir in the blue cheese and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

The Salad

The Stuff:
1 tomato, sliced
3 green onions, chopped (or you can use a couple rounds of red onion too)
1 head of iceberg lettuce, cut into quarters
Spiced pecans
Breadcrumbs
Blue Cheese Dressing

Here’s What You Do:
Place a quarter of the iceberg in a bowl and drizzle the dressing. Top with the tomato, green onion, pecans, breadcrumbs and a few blue cheese crumbles.

Enjoy!