The Unconventional Dressing To Give Your Wedge Salad A Zing
Salads are often served as a prelude to the main course in restaurants. They're light enough to keep you hungry for that perfect ribeye steak, yet full of bright flavors and contrasting textures. These elements can be found in many classic salads, ranging from caesar and cobb to Greek and Caprese, but none of these can hold a candle to the skyscraper size of a wedge salad.
A wedge salad doesn't mind that it looks different from its colleagues, as a hunk of sliced iceberg lettuce sits proud and tall on a plate, often adorned with micro-sized veggies and a hefty drizzle of savory dressing (typically blue cheese, via MasterClass). And back in the 1920s, you could find a wedge salad in most restaurants. Then, in the 1950s, wedge salad got a makeover with bacon bits and blue cheese crumbles, per Hitchcock Farms. Sadly, this wasn't enough to hold the interest of restaurant guests, and about 20 or so years later, the wedge salad lost its luster. But there's a silver lining to this tale: Steakhouses gladly welcomed the uncut salad into the upscale dining family, and to this day, that's where you'll likely find one.
Fortunately, you don't need to make reservations to enjoy a modern wedge salad since they're simple to make at home. Just grab some iceberg lettuce, a few veggies, and perhaps this unconventional dressing instead of the traditional blue cheese fare.
Honey meets mustard
Like a wedge salad, homemade honey mustard dressing is also simple to make, and we'll bet you have most of the following ingredients in your kitchen. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) MyPlate states that this dressing is a blend of vinegar, vegetable oil, honey, mustard, lemon juice, and black pepper. Just throw everything in a jar or bottle, cap a lid on it, shake and dance around the kitchen, and stick it in the fridge for about an hour before consuming. The result is a sweet and spicy dressing that adds elements of acidity and zing to a classic wedge salad.
If you're a die-hard ranch or blue cheese dressing fan, MasterClass suggests opting for a creamy honey mustard dressing with mayonnaise in it. Otherwise, stick with the vinaigrette option (sans mayonnaise). Either way, both versions are tasty contrasts to the salty and sweet veggie toppings on the salad. So next time you're making a wedge salad, ditch the blue cheese or ranch options and try something new with honey mustard. Not only will it give a beautiful yellow-orange "glow" to your salad, but it will also add an aspect of brightness that steakhouses would approve of.