Wedge salad a new spin on summertime favorite
A composed salad sounds so elegant, doesn't it? It's not tossed; it's not layered. It's calm, poised and collected. It sounds purposeful, planned. In French cuisine, a salade composee is a meal in and of itself. The artful and aesthetic arrangement of the ingredients is meant to be a feast for your eyes and then your palate.
While a wedge salad made with iceberg lettuce and loaded with bacon, tomatoes and blue cheese is purely an American creation that's most popular in steak houses, it falls into the composed salad category beautifully. (For a traditional wedge salad with chunky blue cheese dressing, check out KitchenScoop.com.)
Today's recipe is a cross between the American and French-style composed salads. A delightful lemon vinaigrette is drizzled over a plethora of summer treats: shrimp, bacon, feta cheese, kalamata olives, green onions and chopped fresh tomatoes. The crisp iceberg lettuce wedge sits proudly in the center of the plate as all the ingredients fall around it.
Beautiful, artful, filling and amazingly appetizing, the Loaded Shrimp Wedge Salad will surely become a summertime favorite at your table. Enjoy!
Suggested menu: Loaded Shrimp Wedge Salad with baguette with softened butter and crisp and light white wine
Ÿ Alicia Ross is the co-author of “Desperation Dinners!” (Workman, 1997), “Desperation Entertaining!” (Workman, 2002) and “Cheap. Fast. Good!” (Workman, 2006). Write her Kitchen Scoop, c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106, or tellus@kitchenscoop.com. More at the Kitchen Scoop website, kitchenscoop.com.