Sunday, October 4, 2009

southwestern take on a classic

The Kitchn recently posted on the classic iceberg and blue cheese wedge, but I'm more of a Ranch girl (yes, I was raised in the South.) My favorite iceberg wedge is from Maxie's Supper Club and Oysters in Ithaca, New York (there is also one in Milwaukee.) I liked to pretend that eating it was like eating a serving of vegetables, but, in reality, iceberg lettuce is a fairly worthless food nutrition-wise. But covered in fatty Ranch dressing with bacon, it is sooo delicious.


Wanting to replicate Maxie's version of the wedge, I searched online and found this version of ranch dressing.

Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons minced green onions
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

Whisk together. Keep in refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Instead of buying buttermilk, I decided to also make my own. 1 tablespoon of white vinegar plus just under a cup of whole milk can make buttermilk. I couldn't find a cup measurer so I just winged it. For a more precise recipe, a quick google search turned this up. It says to leave the milk-vinegar solution for 5-10 minutes but I was busy cooking other parts of my meal so it was sitting in my fridge for about 45 minutes. The recipe called for seasoned salt. I was planning on using normal salt but found some "Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt" and decided to use that. 2 tablespoons of green onions was about three stalks and I chopped more to put on top as well.

Putting the salad together was just cutting the head of iceberg lettuce into quarters, spooning the dressing over top and sprinkling on bacon and green onions. I meant to add tomatoes to the top of the wedge as well, but forgot.

In the end, the iceberg wedge was delicious but the Spicy Ranch was not so spicy but more like normal Ranch dressing. I'd up the amount of Tabasco and also add in other spices- maybe paprika or cayenne. Does anyone have suggestions?

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