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
