I love Wedge Salads! Before I even knew what they were called, way back in the 70’s, I loved Wedge Salads! There was a restaurant in the town where I went to college, that we would walk to every now and then. They served a wedge of lettuce with bacon and tomatoes on the top and drowned it in Thousand Island dressing. It was my favorite thing on the menu and for a carb-lover like me, that’s saying something (of course I didn’t know what carbs were back in the 70’s either!).
It’s a simple salad with an easy-to-throw-together dressing. At the risk of sounding like Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, who says the same thing on every one of her shows about at least one ingredient: The key to this salad is a GOOD balsamic vinegar. It’s the vinegar that really makes it special. Every show, she says, “Get a “really GOOD parmesan cheese” or a “really GOOD tomato” or a “really GOOD quality steak””, like her viewers would intentionally buy a “BAD cheese or tomato or steak or whatever”. I get kind of tired of it (or maybe you guessed that). So, even if it sounds a bit snooty, get your balsamic vinegar at a specialty store. It will last forever and only gets better with age (if you keep it sealed tightly). I buy 18 year old balsamic vinegar, plain, no fruity flavors, at an olive oil and vinegar store and it is terrific! It’s a great $20.00 investment.
One thing I tend to do on this salad that is different than the recipe above is that I divide the lettuce and topping ingredients into 6 parts instead of 4. With some heads of lettuce, a quarter of a head is just too big for a salad unless you are eating it for an whole meal.
Trust me on the vinegar thing! 
Wedge Salad
Print recipe
Ingredients
- 1 head Iceberg Lettuce (cut into 4 quarters)
- 8 thick slices Pepper Bacon (diced and fried until crisp)
- 1 Medium Tomato (chopped and dried slightly with a paper towel)
- 1/4 cup Red Onion (finely chopped)
- 1/2 cup Crumbled Blue Cheese
- 4 teaspoons Balsamic Vinegar
Dressing
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 1/2 cup Sour Cream
- 3/4 cups Crumbled Blue Cheese
- 1 tablespoon Lime Juice
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Re Pepper (Cayenne)
- 1 dash Tabasco Sauce
Directions
| Dressing | |
| Step 1 | |
| Whisk together buttermilk, sour cream, red onion, blue cheese, lime juice, salt, cayenne pepper & tabasco sauce. Refrigerate at least 1 hour to allow flavors to blend. | |
| Step 2 | |
| To assemble salad: Get 4 salad plates and drizzle 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar on plate. Place lettuce wedge on plate. Pour desired amount of salad dressing on lettuce and top with 1/4 or bacon, tomato and blue cheese. Serve immediately. | |
Well – we were in Branson w/ our friends (don’t have nicknames for them) and went into an “oil” shop. Can’t say I have been in one before…. found some dandy balsamic vinegar and fortunately Mr. W knows how to whip up some good dressing…. I know – not shocking to you! Funny how “things” come in and out of vogue – such as wedge salads.
That’s probably the same place I get ours, in Branson Landing…tasty!