Steal This Recipe® Grilled Romaine Salad with Apple, Smoked Bacon & Gorgonzola Dressing

From Chef Cathy Halter of Taste, LA

Summer means lighting up the grill and since you have all that fire, why not grill your salad too? We have a great recipe for a Grilled Romaine Salad with Sliced Seasonal Apple, Smoked Bacon and Gorgonzola Dressing "stolen with permission" from Chef Cathy Halter.

The Gorgonzola Dressing is made from scratch but boy is it easy - and all natural too! Chef Halter recommends that this salad is served with a 8 oz. New York Steak... grilled of course.

Taste, in West Hollywood, California, as Cathy’s son and business partner John puts it, is "cool and hip, but not overpriced”. With another location in Pacific Palisades, you can sample their delicious Californian fare after a hard day’s shopping, or a day at the beach.

About the chef: A native of Italy, Executive Chef Cathy Halter traveled to America as an exchange student when she was 16 and never looked back. After studying home economics at Portland State University, she embarked on a successful 25 year career as a tailor.

When her husband impulsively purchased a deli, she was suddenly thrown into the restaurant business. One of her most influential mentors was Cajun cooking icon Paul Prudhomme, with whom she apprenticed at his K-Paul’s restaurant in New Orleans.

Taste 
8454 Melrose Avenue 
West Hollywood, CA 90069 
323.852.6888

Grilled Romaine Salad with Sliced Seasonal Apple, Smoked Bacon and Gorgonzola Dressing is served at Taste for $11.00. 
This recipe makes 4 restaurant servings.

Grilled Romaine Salad Ingredients: 
1 head of romaine, heart only, cut in half lengthwise 
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
Salt and pepper to taste 
2 slices apple wood-smoked bacon, cooked until crisp 
1/4 apple (in season), cored and thinly sliced 
3 Tbsp gorgonzola dressing

Gorgonzola Dressing Ingredients:
2.5 oz buttermilk 
2 oz sour cream 
2 oz crumbled gorgonzola cheese 
1/2 clove garlic, peeled and minced 
1/2 tsp lemon juice 
Salt and pepper to taste

Gorgonzola Dressing Steal This Recipe® Step by Step Instructions: 
Stir all ingredients together until well-combined. 
Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
Keep chilled until service.

Grilled Romaine Salad Steal This Recipe® Step by Step Instructions: 
Brush the romaine halves with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. 
Place them cut side down on a gas grill for about 30 seconds. 
You will see grill marks and the leaves will be slightly singed. 
Arrange the halves on a plate together with the apple and bacon slices. 
Drizzle the Gorgonzola Dressing over the top and serve.

Image courtesy of Taste.