PrintDo You Love Iceberg Lettuce?
some fancy-pants chefs love iceberg lettuce, too. I'm not ashamed to admit that I love iceberg lettuce. It's cool, it's crisp, and it's a perfect foil for blue cheese dressing.
Don't get me wrong. I love a fresh, peppery arugula salad picked that morning from somebody's garden. But I don't much care for wilted organic arugula grown 3,000 miles from my house and picked two weeks before it finds its way into my hands. I also hate iceberg lettuce that is more brown than light green with tons of droopy outer leaves. C'mon, admit it. You like iceberg lettuce, too.
Here's a great blue cheese dressing recipe from the late Jamie Shannon (and Ti Adelaide Martin) of Commander's Palace (Are there others out there? Hell, I even like Marie's, though the best commercially available blue cheese dressing is from Point Reyes Cheese.
Commander's Palace Blue Cheese Dressing
- makes 2 1/3 cups -
Ingredients
1/2 pound good-quality blue cheese ( like Maytag Blue Cheese-Ed)
1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
Kosher salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup cane, cider or malt vinegar
Juice of 1 small lemon
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce, or to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup olive oil
Procedure
Place half the cheese, the chopped onion, salt, pepper, vinegar, lemon juice, hot sauce, and Worcestershire in the workbowl of a food processor. Purée until well blended and liquified. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture, then turn off the machine. Crumble the remaining cheese, and pulse until well blended. There should be lots of small cheese chunks remaining in the dressing. Adjust seasoning. Refrigerate for up to two weeks.
Jamie Shannon's Tips: Use a high-quality, aged blue cheese, but remember that the cheese may be salty, so be careful with added salt. But pepper's another story. Add lots of freshly ground pepper.
From Commander's Kitchen by Jamie Shannon and Ti Adelaide Martin, Broadway Books
Photograph from iStockPhoto.com; I can has blu cheez explained
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12 Comments:
Oh, yeah! I've liked that so-simple salad of a wedge of iceberg lettuce with blue-cheese dressing ever since I first had it in the first-class dining room of the SS United States in 1963.
And Point Reyes cheese rocks! My wife has celiac disease and (oversimplified) cannot eat wheat or wheat-derived products becaus of the gluten proteins. When we called Maytag to ask if their blue cheese was gluten-free they refused to say for sure.
When we called Point Reyes, the switchboard connected us to Monte McIntyre, the master cheesemaker, who said that while the mold culture was indeed grown on bread, they had had their cheese tested in independent labs and found no detectable gluten.
We've been happily eating their cheeses ever since.
I like to just make a simple vinaigrette with black pepper and blue cheese instead of mustard as the emulsifier. It breaks faster, but is sure tasty.
BerryK at 1:40PM on 06/21/07
Certain things can only have iceberg lettuce.....BLTs and hamburgers!!
And I know this is wierd, but sometimes I crave warm iceberg lettuce....like when you get almond boneless chicken and it's served on a bed of lettuce....or on a cheeseburger with melted cheese stuck to the lettuce.
ThatGirl153 at 1:55PM on 06/21/07
My mother makes a wonderful pasta with lettuce and peas that can only be made with Iceberg. It maintains its snap, yet wilts into a lovely, soft texture. It's really quite good!
theheadhen at 2:34PM on 06/21/07
Oh, yes, I love it! It's the only thing for tacos, and of course a BLT. Iceberg, avocado, and tomato with blue cheese dressing is divine. Lots of fresh ground black pepper on top.
ride&cook at 2:59PM on 06/21/07
I agree - a cheeseburger, albeit fancier with bibb or some other leafy green, isn't a cheeseburger unless that leaf of iceberg is on it!
My mom used to make a side dish for us of a leaf of iceberg (as a bowl), a pineapple slice from the can, a dollop of mayo in the middle, and some shredded cheddar cheese and a cherry on top.
Anyone ever heard of that? I had to check with my mom to make sure I didn't dream it!
rbryants at 3:01PM on 06/21/07
My mom used to make iceburg lettuce and mayo sandwiches as snacks for us when we got home from school to tide us over until dinner. She always put a grind of black pepper on them. Just the memory of them makes me smile.
pageycooks at 3:28PM on 06/21/07
I am in agreement, iceberg lettuce with homemade blue cheese dressing is a great combo. Sometimes I add watercress to spice it up. Also, cut in half and pulling out the center, it makes a great holder for tuna salad, chicken salad. etc. A BLT would not be the same with any other lettuce.
Mich23 at 4:09PM on 06/21/07
I don't *love* it, though since I saw that Satur Farms has iceburg available via FreshDirect, I'm willing to give it another shot.
(I'm more of an arugula on BLT girl)
Jennifer Hess at 4:30PM on 06/21/07
What's up with the "i can has blu cheeze" caption on the lettuce pic?
ThatGirl153 at 8:28AM on 06/22/07
Do a search for LoLCats and you'll get the reference. It's hard to believe anyone on the internet hasn't come across it yet, since versions of it are everywhere. LoLLettuce is a first, though, and pretty funny.
I am definitely in the iceberg camp for BLT's and blue cheese. I've recently given up entirely on bottled blue cheese dressing and have started just making my own, so I'll give this recipe a try. Cook's Illustrated has the recipe that I've had the most success with. A little tweaking and I have the dressing of my dreams, perfect for iceberg lettuce in the summer.
empath at 9:48AM on 06/22/07
i adore iceberg lettuce andam proud to say in those heady early 80s food days, when "knowledgeable" folks eschewed it, i was it's most hearty defender. (maybe it's because i am italian and grew up eating all kinds of micro-greens from my grandmother's garden).
i always thought, so it's not roquette, radicchio or endive, SO WHAT. just because it was the only lettuce you knew in your childhood and now you want to feel sophisticated by mocking it doesn't mean it's not DELICIOUS.
o yes, and there is no such thing as a chopped salad without it. impossible.
Dish at 12:36PM on 06/22/07
@ThatGirl: I can has blu cheez explained
Adam Kuban at 2:17PM on 06/23/07