Grilled Romaine with Bacon-Balsamic Vinaigrette

For this round of the recipe swap, the theme is Grilling/Cook Out. You can imagine that this is fairly far outside my comfort zone! I wanted to participate and try something new. I don’t really eat meat on the bone, so I specified that with Sarah from A Taste of Home Cooking who organizes the recipe swaps. I’m usually not demanding at all: I’m not really very picky. I got this recipe from Mary Ellen’s Cooking Creations  for a grilled romaine salad and I was really excited to try it. 

I’ve had a grilled salad one other time, at Western/steakhouse restaurant. I liked it, but my lettuce was a little too grilled. I figured I could control that, plus it had a wonderful bacon/balsamic dressing that I knew I would like. I sometimes like bleu cheese and sometimes I don’t, so for this recipe I substituted goat’s cheese in its place. 

While we do own a grill, I made this inside on the grill pan. I didn’t have good luck cooking the bacon and onion; my onions were burnt to a crisp before the bacon was done. I started again and cooked the bacon partially and then added the onions so they wouldn’t get burnt. The grill pan worked great, but I ended up standing over a hot stove for longer than planned. I wasn’t sure how we would eat this, so I ended up chopping up the lettuce and mixing everything together. I did like the flavors of this, but the grilled flavor wasn’t very strong. Thanks for the recipe Mary Ellen! It was good to try something new.

Grilled Romaine with Bacon-Balsamic Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 slices bacon, chopped

2 tablespoon chopped onion

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

2 heads romaine lettuce, cut in 1/2 lengthwise

2 tablespoon crumbled goat’s cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the grill or a grill pan to high heat.

First, make the dressing: heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet until hot. Add the bacon and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the onions to the pan and cook until the bacon is crispy and the onion is soft. Add the balsamic vinegar and the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan. Stir and then remove from the heat.

Brush the romaine with a little olive oil and place on the grill, cut side down.  Quickly sear; this will take about three minutes.

Pour the dressing over the romaine and top with the goat’s cheese. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.  

 

Recipe from Mary Ellen’s Cooking Creations