Chopped Salad with Barbecue Ranch Dressing
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.
The paler inner leaves of a head of romaine are the sweetest. I trim and discard any outer leaves that are limp or bruised.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Barbecue Ranch Dressing
Preparation
Step 1
Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, then transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to cool. Bring a small saucepan of water to a gentle boil. Carefully place the eggs in the water, and simmer for 9 minutes. Drain the eggs, and rinse in cold water until cooled (the centers should still be a bit creamy). When the eggs are cool, peel and thinly slice them. Bring a large skillet of water to a boil. Add a generous pinch of salt, and blanch the asparagus until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the asparagus, and then shock it in ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain and set aside.
Step 2
You can serve this salad two ways. For the more traditional presentation, toss all of the salad ingredients with the dressing in a large bowl, and then divide among individual plates (be sure you distribute all the goodies evenly, or people will complain!). For an even prettier presentation, arrange the cucumber, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, blue cheese, sliced eggs, and asparagus in rows, separated by color, atop the romaine lettuce on a rectangular platter or in a large, shallow serving bowl. Crumble the cooked bacon over the top, and serve the salad with Barbecue Ranch Dressing (recipe follows), allowing guests to dish up their own salad with a knife and fork on chilled individual plates. Season with pepper.
Barbecue Ranch Dressing
Step 3
Whisk the garlic, mayonnaise, buttermilk, and Neely’s Barbecue Sauce together in a medium bowl. Add the vinegar, Neely’s Barbecue Seasoning, onion powder, dill, chives, and parsley, and whisk until smooth. Cover and chill for 1 hour to allow flavors to meld.
