Strawberry Iceberg Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
With lots of crunch from iceberg lettuce this strawberry topped salad is perfect for dinner or served at the beginning of a meal. Think about adding some extra protein such as grilled shrimp or chicken. The vinaigrette is pretty punchy — if you’re not a big fan of tangy vinaigrettes, try topping the salad with a more traditional creamy blue cheese dressing.
With lots of crunch from iceberg lettuce this strawberry topped salad is perfect for dinner or served at the beginning of a meal. Think about adding some extra protein such as grilled shrimp or chicken. The vinaigrette is pretty punchy — if you’re not a big fan of tangy vinaigrettes, try topping the salad with a more traditional creamy blue cheese dressing.
- salt and fresh ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 5 thick-cut bacon slices, cooked until crisp then cr
- 1 medium head iceberg lettuce, trimmed and cored, sliced i
- 6 ounces strawberries hulled and sliced (9 strawberries)
- 1/4 medium red onion thinly sliced
- 2 ounces blue cheese crumbled (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 teaspoon very finely minced garlic (about 1/2 medium clove
- pinch sugar plus more to taste
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
- Carbohydrate 4.34360698139 g
- Cholesterol 10.6310711625 mg
- Fat 14.333274343962 g
- Fiber 0.967360696278255 g
- Protein 3.393936678855 g
- Saturated Fat 4.05361237930344 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (85g)
- Sodium 237.957416469411 mg
- Sugar 3.37624628511174 g
- Trans Fat 0.524735318143279 g
- Calories 158 calories
Step-by-step
- Place lettuce rounds onto plates or arrange all slices onto a larger platter. Top with crumbled bacon, strawberries and onion slices.
- Make vinaigrette. In a medium bowl, use a fork to mash the blue cheese, garlic and sugar into the cider vinegar until the blue cheese has melted into the vinegar. You don’t need to mash until completely smooth, it’s fine to have some small pieces of cheese left.
- Add the olive oil and whisk until creamy. Adjust seasonings with more sugar, salt and/or pepper. Drizzle dressing over stacked salad. If any blue cheese remains, it doesn’t hurt to add a few extra crumbles on top.
Timing determines whether an iceberg lettuce salad maintains its structural integrity or collapses into watery vegetation. Dress the leaves immediately before service; salt draws moisture out of plant cells rapidly, transforming crisp wedges into a soggy base within ten minutes. Iceberg lettuce consists primarily of water enclosed in rigid cellular walls, meaning physical contact with acidic vinegar initiates immediate osmotic collapse if left to sit.
Vinaigrette Mechanics and Scaling
Building a stable blue cheese vinaigrette relies on mechanical force rather than temperature. Mashing the cheese, garlic, and a pinch of sugar directly into the vinegar breaks down the solid curd before the oil is introduced. Whisking extra-virgin olive oil into this acidic paste creates a semi-emulsion where small fat droplets remain suspended by the cheese solids. When multiplying this formulation for larger gatherings, maintain the three-to-one vinegar-to-oil ratio precisely, but increase the blue cheese by twenty percent to compensate for the higher liquid volume.
- Use a stainless steel fork rather than a wire whisk to mash the cheese, as tight wires trap large blue cheese curds instead of breaking them down.
- Slice the red onion to a thickness of one millimeter and soak the strands in ice water for fifteen minutes to eliminate harsh sulfur compounds while preserving crunch.
- Cook thick-cut bacon in a cold skillet raised slowly to medium heat to render internal fat fully without burning the exterior proteins.
