BLT Salad a Summer Favorite

I love salads, especially in the summer! This one is inspired by the Wedge Salad at Turkey and the Wolf in New Orleans. It is delicious butter lettuce, a homemade ranch dressing, lots of heirloom cherry tomatoes, crispy bacon, and topped with lots of Everything But the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s. It is a fantastic addition to any summer grilling you may be doing!

• 14 oz of butter lettuce (or 2 packages from Trader Joe’s)

• 1-1.5 c. homemade ranch (depending on preference)

• 3 c. halved heirloom cherry tomatoes, peppered

• 10 oz. Applewood smoked bacon, crispy

• 2 tbsp. extra chopped chives for the top

• 3 tbsp. Everything but the Bagel seasoning, or similar
  

There are a few tricks to this salad. I like to crisp the bacon and let it cool; then cut half of it into bigger chunks with scissors, and mince the other half into crumbles. This ensures you always get bacon flavor with each bite, even if you aren’t getting a big chunk of bacon. After I halve the cherry tomatoes, I generously pepper them so they have their own individual flavor profile. The everything bagel seasoning adds a whole new level of crunchy, yummy, delicious to this salad. You must use butter lettuce! It is soft enough that it doesn’t fight with the bacon chunks, and has a bit of curl to it that holds all the components of this salad.

---

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

• 1 c. high quality mayo like Sir Kensington’s

• 1/4 c. full fat buttermilk

• 3 tbsp. olive oil

• 2 tbsp. honey

• 3 tbsp. fresh dill

• 1/2 c. fresh basil torn

• 4 tbsp. rough chopped chives

• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

• 1 tsp. Maldon salt

• 1 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper

• 1 dash cayenne pepper

First blend together the mayo, buttermilk, olive oil, and honey. You can also add a dash of hot sauce if you would like! Then add the fresh herbs, and other seasonings and pulse. I actually like to overly pulse mine so it has a light green hue and lots of darker green flecks.