Diner Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

I used to love going out to eat at diners but these days I’m flat out disappointed with diner food. It seems there are no decent diners left, the chains have really gone downhill and the little out of the way greasy spoons seem non-existent.

Admittedly I still go to these sub-par diners now and then, it’s still a nice break from cooking (and the alternative which is generally a fast food). The company and the conversation are still generally good so I’ve learned that lowering my expectations regarding the food and taking an antacid makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable.

It used to be that even if the meal was just so-so, the dessert was something to look forward to. Unfortunately these days even the desserts are pretty sub-par. Bought in bulk and served up with more sauce than substance I have not had a decent diner dessert in years… in fact, I’ve even had a few desserts served to me still frozen! How damn lazy do you have to be to not only buy in all your desserts but not even be bothered to defrost them?

IMO the only saving grace to the diners I’ve been to is that more often than not they serve a good salad. Don’t get me wrong, I eat salad at home but something about the mostly water based vegetable/nutritionally void crisp cold salad of the American diner is the one thing I look forward to when I eat at these places. Plus as much as I love blue cheese dressing, I don’t tend to buy it to eat at home because I’m the only one that likes it BUT recently my granddaughter discovered blue cheese and she loves it!

So, I started making homemade blue cheese dressing and then went “whole hog” and recreated everything I like about diner salads. I swear I could eat one every day!

Ingredients

Blue Cheese Dressing

• 1/3 cup mayo
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp Worcester sauce
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 TBSP SACO Buttermilk Powder
• 1/4 tsp parsley flakes
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 5 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Diner Salad

• 1 head of iceberg lettuce
• 1 small English cucumber
• 1 large carrot
• 24 grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1 small bag of croutons

Instructions

Blue Cheese Dressing

1. Place all of the ingredients except the cheese into a mixing bowl.
2. Whisk until well blended.
3. Put into a jar (or other airtight container with a tight-fitting lid).
4. Add the crumbled cheese, put on the lid and shake gently for a few seconds.
5. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
6. Shake gently before serving (each time you serve it).

Makes about 8 generous servings – Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

Diner Salad

1. Remove the core of the lettuce and discard it. Cut the lettuce in half and then cut each half into 1-inch pieces. Rub the pieces of cut up lettuce between your hands to separate the layers and place the layers into a large serving bowl
2. Peel the cucumber, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds with a spoon, chop off the ends and discard them. Slice the cucumber halves into slices about a 1/4 inch thick and place in the serving bowl on top of the lettuce.
3. Peel the carrot and cut off its tip, then grate using the largest holes on a box grater. Discard the carrot “butt” and pile the grated carrot on top of the cucumber in the serving bowl.
4. Toss the 24 grape or cherry tomatoes on top of the grated carrot in the serving bowl.
5. If not serving immediately, cover with a damp kitchen paper towel and then with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until serving.
6. Uncover and toss just before serving, scatter over croutons on individual servings.

Makes 8 servings – Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Notes

• You could use buttermilk in place of the milk and omit the buttermilk powder, but IMO it’s not as good of flavor.