Grilled Romaine Salad

If you know me, you know I’m not big on vegetables so I’m certainty not a huge fan of salads. Unless of course there are any of the following: a fabulous dressing, lots of toppings (i.e. olives, cranberries, nuts, cheese, potato salad, etc, etc) and/or it’s grilled! I feel the same about fresh string beans, when something is charred or roasted it takes on an entirely new flavor, a yummy new flavor to be exact. Grilled romaine is so good and I was always ordering it at restaurants but one day I thought I really need to make this at home so I could eat it more often, so I set out to make grilled romaine.

When I say I failed at this (a few times) you’ll probably laugh and think, how can you fail at such an easy recipe? I’ll save you the time and ingredients and tell you all things I did wrong.

1. Grill pan has to be fairly hot. If the lettuces doesn’t sizzle immediately, it’s not hot enough
2. Lettuce has to be dry. This is a tricky one b/c you need to wash the lettuce before eating and the head needs to stay intact for grilling. So it’s somewhat difficult to get all the water out. If you leave a bunch of water in the lettuce it steams the lettuce when you grill instead of charring. Leaving you with a soggy, not too appetizing salad.
3. Do not over oil the lettuce. When I say lightly brush olive oil with a silicone brush, it’s true. Too much oil and you’re in the same situation as #2. Soggy.
4. Serve with something crunchy. The lettuce does get a little soft (as it should ) but I find serving with homemade, crunchy croutons or breadcrumbs is really what this salad needs.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 heads romaine lettuce, tops and bottoms trimmed, heads cut lengthwise in half
½ cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoon steak seasoning (divided)
Homemade croutons or bread crumbs (follow the link and scroll down to #2)
Made from scratch Caesar Salad Dressing

Directions

Trim the top and bottom off the romaine, but leave enough of the stem in place to hold the leaves together. Rinse romaine and dry thoroughly.

Preheat grill over medium heat and oil the grate. I use a silicone brush to make sure the oil is spread evenly on the grate. Using the same brush lightly brush the cut side of the romaine with a little olive oil. Sprinkle on 1/2 a tablespoon of steak seasoning to each half of romaine (more or less to your taste).

Place lettuce cut side-down on preheated grill. the grill should be hot enough that it sizzles immediately. Cook until lettuce is slightly wilted and charred, about 5 – 8 minutes. Drizzle with dressing, croutons, Parmesan cheese and serve immediately .