Chopped Salad with Barbecue Ranch Dressing

Name: Chopped Salad with Barbecue Ranch Dressing
Yield: serves 4
Ingredients: 4 strips thick-sliced bacon; 2 eggs; Kosher salt; 1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed; 1 cup chopped seedless cucumber; 1/2 cup chopped red onion; 1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper; 1 cup orange (or red or yellow) grape or currant tomatoes, halved; 4 ounces crumbled blue cheese; 1 large head romaine lettuce, trimmed (see note) and chopped; Freshly ground black pepper; 1 garlic clove, minced; 3/4 cup mayonnaise; 1/2 cup buttermilk; 2 tablespoons Neely’s Barbecue Sauce (page 25); 2 teaspoons apple-cider vinegar; 1 teaspoon Neely’s Barbecue Seasoning (page 22); 3/4 teaspoon onion powder; 3/4 teaspoon dried dill; 1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; (makes 1 1/2 cups)

December 9, 2011

Gina: You gotta love an enormous chopped salad made with just about everything in the vegetable drawer. Our version includes the traditional ingredients of bacon, egg, and blue cheese, along with an array of colorful vegetables for fresh flavor and crunch, and our creamy Barbecue Ranch Dressing (imagine the tart, spicy creaminess of ranch with the sweetness and smoke of the barbecue sauce; it’s a match made in heaven). Your vegetables will be “grooving” in the bowl! This is a hearty salad worthy of being a meal all on its own.

Cooks' Note

The paler inner leaves of a head of romaine are the sweetest. I trim and discard any outer leaves that are limp or bruised.

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