Italian American Wedge Salad with Creamy Herb Dressing

Serves 4

Ingredients for pepperoni crumbs:

1⁄4 lb of pepperoni roughly chopped

2 Tbl Italian Herbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp dried oregano

1⁄4 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions for pepperoni crumbs:

In a food processor, pulse the pepperoni for 1 minute until it looks ground and paste like.

In a medium sauté, heat the olive oil over low heat. Add the pepperoni and oregano and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the fat cooks out of the meat and it’s starting to crisp up, about 10 minutes. Add the panko and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Set aside on a plate lined with paper towels. You need 1 cup of pepperoni crumbs.

Salad ingredients:

2 heads of iceberg lettuce

1⁄2 - 1 cup basil leaves

2 tsp red wine vinegar

4 Tbl Lemon Basil Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 cup Creamy Herb Dressing (recipe follows)

1/3 cup pepperoncini peppers (5-6 peppers)

16 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced into half moons

4 Tbl Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Freshly ground pepper

Directions for salad:

Remove the loose outer leaves of the lettuce and discard. Cut each head in half through the equator. Trim a way the core on the bottom half and cut off a thin slice from the top half so that all of the halves sit flat on plates, equator side up.

Tuck 8-10 basil leaves in the leaves in each exposed lettuce half. Sprinkle each half evenly with equal amounts of red wine vinegar, olive oil, and oregano, then spoon about 4 Tbl of dressing over each serving. Add more dressing if desired.

Arrange the pepperoncini, tomatoes, red onion, and Gorgonzola over the top and finish with black pepper.

Creamy Herb Dressing Ingredients:

2 anchovy fillets

1 garlic clove, grated

6 Tbl whole milk Greek yogurt 6 Tbl crème fraiche

1⁄4 cup roughly chopped parsley 1⁄4 cup packed chopped basil

2 Tbl chopped chives

1 Tbl white balsamic vinegar 4 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp Sea salt

1⁄4 tsp freshly ground pepper 2 1⁄2 tsp sugar

1 Tbl avocado oil

Directions:

In a blender, combine anchovies, garlic, yogurt, crème fraiche, parsley, basil, chives, white balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, sugar and avocado oil and blend until smooth. Dressing can be made up 3 days ahead.