Grilled Romaine with a Homemade Honey Mustard Poppyseed Dressing

If you haven’t fired up your grill yet this season, get ready.

Stock the propane.  Buy some more charcoal.

But don’t be tricked.  We’re not cooking juicy steaks or burgers.  We’re not making sticky bbq ribs or Johnnie’s black Angus hot dogs.

We’re grilling up some romaine lettuce.

One of my favorite downtown restaurants features a grilled romaine salad.  The toppings may vary from season to season, but the base remains the same.  A warm, slightly charred head of romaine lettuce.

The process of grilling the romaine gives it a smoky flavor.  It is so unique and so delicious, especially when topped with this homemade dressing.

I hope we can agree on the fact that homemade salad dressing is unbelievably better than store bought bottled dressing.  (If not, how can we be friends?!)  Homemade dressings are usually pretty easy to throw together too.  So elevate your next picnic or bbq with something homemade.  A simple, homemade dressing can elevate the simplest (most boring) salad. (Another one of our family favorites, my honey mustard ranch dressing.   https://www.johnniesinc.com/web/2017/07/cajun-blackened-fish-taco-bowls/  I swear I make a batch of this every week.)

Top your grilled romaine with the fruit of the season, strawberries!  And when the blueberries ripen, give them a try.  The sweetness of the berries will compliment the tangy dressing very well.  For good measure, I also added bacon and feta cheese.

Grilled Romaine with a Homemade Honey Mustard Poppyseed Dressing

Ingredients

• 1 Head of Romaine, sliced in half lengthwise
• olive oil
• Canadian Style Steak Seasoning 
• 3/4 cup olive oil (I used a mix of extra light tasting olive oil and extra virgin olive oil) or canola oil
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• feta cheese, bacon, strawberries……

Directions

1. Preheat grill for medium heat. Drizzle olive oil over romaine lettuce and season with steak seasoning.  I used Canadian Style Steak Seasoning.
2. Place lettuce cut side-down on preheated grill. Cook until lettuce is slightly wilted and charred, about 4 minutes. Watch it carefully, we want it slightly charred, not burned.  During the 4 minutes, I turned the lettuce and even flipped it over to ensure it was warm and evenly charred.
3. Prepare dressing.  Place olive oil, vinegar, honey, salt, onion powder, and mustard in a blender; blend until well mixed. Stir poppy seeds into olive oil mixture.  I do think you need to mix this in a blender.  (I tried shaking it vigourously in a covered container first, but the ingredients didn’t mix together well.  They will separate after sitting.)
4. Plate the grilled romaine.  Drizzle the dressing over the romaine and top with feta cheese, sliced strawberries and toasted walnuts.

*To the best of my ability, I have tried to indicate all ingredients, products and equipment that are available at Johnnies in Bold Print.