This weekend is a nice long weekend and a time to celebrate America! I love the 4th of July because it reminds of my youth and the long days of summer in Okoboji. I lived in Spencer so Okoboji was only a quick 15 minute drive to get to all the action and summer fun. When I was younger it was all about going to the beach or going to a friends house and jumping off their dock into the lake and swimming for hours. As I got older Okoboji and the 4th of July was more about getting a group of friends together and going boating for hours, having a grill out and eating a lot, "cruisin' the loop" to see all the people that were out, and fireworks on the lake.
Even though I cannot be in Okoboji this weekend for the festivities I will still get together with family and friends and watch fireworks and have lots of food and a couple grill outs. With so much fun and excitement already going on this weekend, why not make meal planning a little easier? I have a salad that will not only be easy but it's a small little spin on a classic salad that will make a huge taste difference.
Grilled Caesar Salad is what you should be making this weekend. Use it as a side dish, or add some chicken or salmon to it for a hearty main entrée. Whatever you do, just try it, you won't regret it!
So there's not a lot of ingredients that you need to go out and buy which is a plus. You will need a head of romaine lettuce, and not that stuff you find in a bag, you will also need some parmesan cheese, Caesar dressing, red onion, and black olives.
So now first step is that you will want to go and preheat your grill. Get that puppy hot because as soon as you have cut your ingredients it will only take a couple minutes and then you will be ready to eat.
Now we are just going to take off any leaves that are wilted or don't look the best. Then we are going to wash it and cut it down the middle lengthwise.
That's all the cutting for the lettuce right now, so just open up the romaine lettuce and set it on a plate, or tray to take out to the grill.
I then spray the cut end of the lettuce with olive oil spray and season with freshly ground pepper and Kosher salt.
Last thing we are going to cut is the red onion. Just cut the ends off, and take the skin off the onion.
Cut in thin slices, which you should get between 6-10 depending on how big your onion is.
Now we are ready to pack up all our ingredients and take it out to the grill. Yes, you can take it all out to the grill because we will prepare the salad outside.
So the first thing after the grill is preheated we are going to throw on the red onions since they take longer than the romaine lettuce.
**You can grill your onions until very soft, I usually only throw them on for about 3-4 minutes because I like the crunchy texture but I love the smoky grill flavor.**
As soon as you turn the onions over is when you will want to put the romaine lettuce on the grill, cut side down. Shut the lid to the grill, but whatever you do don't leave!! This step only take 2- 2 1/2 minutes. Let your lettuce cook for only a couple minutes. You want to get some nice grill marks on your lettuce with a little smoky flavor but you don't want it cooked all the way through. The lettuce should just start to wilt but still have a delicious crunch.
Look at the lovely little lettuce
Now that you take the lettuce and onions off the grill, go ahead and cut up the lettuce. First start by cutting through the leaves lengthwise about 4 or 5 times.
Next turn the lettuce 90 degrees and cut the head of lettuce in about 1 in. square pieces. How easy was that? You don't need to buy bagged lettuce again! When the lettuce is cut just throw it in a bowl to serve.
From here you have 2 options. #1 option would be if you are serving the salad right away, than go ahead and put the dressing right on the salad and mix until all incorporated.
Add on your cooked red onions, shredded parmesan cheese, black olives, and croutons. Serve and Enjoy!!
If you are taking this salad to a friends or won't be serving this salad right away, I suggest putting the salad in the bottom of your dish, topped with grilled red onions, parmesan cheese, and black olives. Wait to put the dressing and croutons on until right before serving so that the salad is fresh and crisp.
Hope you enjoy the salad, I know my family loves it. Have a wonderful weekend!
Grilled Caesar Salad
1 head Romaine lettuce, cut in half
1 medium red onion, sliced in rings
Olive oil spray
Kosher salt and pepper
½-3/4 c. Caesar dressing
½ c. black olives
¼ c. parmesan cheese
½ c. croutons
Preheat grill to medium heat. Spray romaine lettuce and red onions with olive oil spray and season with salt and pepper. Grill the red onion for about 2 minutes on each side and lettuce for only 2 minutes with the cut side facing the grill. Grill lettuce until grill marks appear and the it becomes wilted. Remove red onion and lettuce. Place lettuce onto the cutting board and cut into small bite size pieces. In a medium bowl toss the grilled romaine lettuce with the Caesar dressing, top with red onion, black olives, parmesan cheese and croutons.
-Cool
No comments:
Post a Comment