Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 head iceberg lettuce, outer discoloured leaves removed
• Blue Cheese Dressing (recipe below)
• Spicy Beer Nuts (recipe below)
• For the Blue Cheese Dressing:
  1. 1/2 cup of homemade mayo (125 ml)
  2. ½ cup sour cream (125 ml)
  3. 1 cup Stilton cheese, crumbled (some larger chunks, set aside for garnish) (225 g)
  4. 1/3 cup reduced beer (80 ml)
  5. 1 tablespoon lemon juice (15 ml)
  6. A pinch of coarse salt
  7. Cracked black pepper
• For the Spicy Beer Nuts:
  1. ½ cup pecans (85 g)
  2. 1/8 teaspoon chili powder (a good pinch)
  3. 1 tablespoon brown sugar (15 g)
  4. ¼ cup reduced beer (60 ml)
  5. Pinch coarse salt

Method

1. From a head of Iceberg Lettuce, remove any wilted leaves on the outside, remove the core, then slice the head into 4 equal wedges.
2. For the Blue Cheese Dressing:
   1. Put 1 bottle beer in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let it simmer and reduce by half.
   2. In a mixing bowl, put mayonnaise, sour cream and crumbled cheese. Add seasonings. Mix well with a fork leaving it lumpy.
   3. Drizzle dressing over the Iceberg lettuce wedge. Put some large chunks of Stilton on top and finish the garnish with the Spicy Beer Nuts.
3. For the Spicy Beer Nuts:
   1. Toast pecan halves in a medium size, dry, non-stick pan till barely toasted giving them a stir occasionally. Don’t let them burn.
   2. Add a jolt of reduced beer, the sugar, salt and chili powder. Let it bubble up, and reduce to lose the liquid and glaze the nuts. When the pan is dry and all liquid has been absorbed or evaporated, take pan off the heat.
   3. Lay in one layer to cool. They will be slightly sticky but will crisp up a bit as they cool.
   4. Dot the top of the dressed Wedge Salad with a few nuts.