Loaded Iceberg Steaks ♥ with Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

Loaded Iceberg Steaks with Homemade Thousand Island Dressing, another 'Summer Easy' salad idea ♥ A Veggie Venture
graphic button small size size 10 Today's quick 'n' easy 'n' versatile salad, just a thick slice of iceberg lettuce topped with summery BLT-ish vegetables and a drizzle of Homemade Thousand Island Dressing. Surprisingly filling! Low Carb. Weight Watchers Friendly. Naturally Gluten Free. graphic button small size size 10

Please oh please, don't mock. Every year, I fall in love with a new vegetable, or well, better put, I experience a long-familiar vegetable with new appreciation. In 2017? Iceberg lettuce, ha!

It all started when for the first time in years, I made a batch of homemade salad dressing, the oh-so-lovely Thousand Island Dressing. One batch led to another and another, warranting a "3x5 recipe", the card stock I'm re-instituting for house specialties and meal standards, all kept handy in a wood 3x5 recipe box from my childhood. So yeah, 3x5 cards in digital 2017? Again, don't mock! :-)

Anyway, iceberg "wedges" taste great but are awkward for loading up with other ingredients. Enter iceberg lettuce "steaks" – just thick slices cut from the midsection of a head of lettuce, all crunch, so fresh, so summery.

Give it a whirl? I promise a warm welcome into the iceberg club!

This recipe is so quick and easy that I'm adding it to a growing collection of easy summer recipes published all summer long since 2009 at Kitchen Parade, my food column. With a free Kitchen Parade e-mail subscription, you'll never miss a one!

RECIPE for LOADED ICEBERG STEAKS

Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Time to table: 5 minutes
Serves 1 to many

1 center-cut slice of iceberg lettuce, about 1 inch thick
Cooked bacon bits
Chopped tomato
Fresh corn kernels
Fresh dill or another herb, chopped
Sunflower seeds
For dressing, Thousand Island Dressing

Other Ideas:
Chopped radish or fennel or garden green pepper (for crunch)
Whaddya got on hand? :-)

Remove the outer leaves from a whole small head of lettuce. With a long, sharp knife, cut through the center of the head, slicing about one-inch thick round iceberg "steaks". Carefully transfer each slice onto a plate. Top with bacon, tomato, corn, herbs, sunflower seeds and anything else you can think of! Top with Thousand Island Dressing.

ALANNA'S TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
WEDGES vs STEAKS Wedges are the traditional way to cut iceberg lettuce but "steaks" just work better when you're loading stuff on top.
ICEBERG HEADS A head of iceberg yields only three or four "steaks". In fact, a smaller head works better because it's a little tricky to keep intact a wide slice of ettuce when moving it onto a plate.
INDIVIDUAL PLATES I tried serving Loaded Iceberg Steaks on a platter, thinking it would be pretty for a buffet. The platter was indeed pretty – but also unforgiving when people tried to move an individual slice onto their own plates. #Fail. So I'd recommend serving this salad on individual salad plates.
BACON, REALLY? Note to Vegetarians



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I ♥ ICEBERG LETTUCE!

~ Watercress, Iceberg Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing ~
~ more lettuce recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Wedge Salad with Homemade Low-Cal & Low-Carb Blue Cheese Salad Dressing ~
~ Grilled Steak with Summer Tomato Salad ~
~ BLT Pasta Salad ~
~ more lettuce recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

SEASONAL EATING: THIS SAME WEEK ACROSS THE YEARS

No-Cook Tabbouleh Eggplant Sandwiches with Cilantro Hummus Summer Orzo with Radicchio Chipotle Chickpea Salad (< reader favorite!) Avocado Salad with Hearts of Palm BLTs with Avocado King Hill Farms Simple & Sublime Beets (< for beet lovers) Amaranth Greens More Matters: The New Fruits & Veggies Campaign Grilled Eggplant with Balsamic Honey Syrup Romano Beans in Butter-Braised Garlic (< watch for romano beans at the farmers market) Seared Radicchio Weight Watchers Italian Zero Points Soup Tomato & Onion Salad Stacked Ratatouille (< totally versatile!) Sautéed Cucumbers How to Cut Corn Off the Cob: Keeping All Ten Fingers, Capturing Every Delicious Kernel and Every Drop of Sweet Corn "Milk" Corn & Cucumber Salad with Fresh Blueberries Succotash Salad with Green Beans, Lima Beans, Corn & Tomatoes Raw Tomatillo Salad with Blueberries (< lovin' this year's blueberries!) Pretty Ways to Serve Summer's Best Tomatoes Quick Summer Squash & Tomato Saute

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2017 & 2018



Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. This reminds me of the Special Sandwich served at Marshall Field's Walnut Room. It was a slice of buttered rye bread topped with Swiss cheese and a few slices of roasted turkey breast. That was topped with an iceberg lettuce "steak," hard boiled egg, bacon and tomato. It was all topped with Thousand Island Dressing. It never occurred to me to make it without the rye bread.

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  2. Iceberg lettuce has wonderful crunch and texture. And I don't know many people who don't like wedge salads (although maybe it's all the toppings). I really like the idea of "steaks" -- a fun look, and as you say you can really load them up with goodies. :-) --John

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  3. This is genius, Alanna. We love the traditional wedge salad with blue cheese dressing but your innovation is a far superior presentation. This is a tasty blue cheese recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/16459/bills-blue-cheese-dressing/ and I simply top each with a diced campari tomato and minced red onion. Thanks again for a super idea!

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna