Deirdre’s Dynamite Wedge

We got complaints from the Crowd. After a week of pomp and drama, with heads of state gathering in New York and Washington alongside global officials and mysterious financiers, people wanted a meal they could sit down and eat. Much of what happened behind the pageantry remains out of view. What we can see is the deadlock in the Gulf and the slow grind of death in Ukraine.

The Crowd had also had enough of our nonstop motion around the dining space and the historic events of the last quarter millennium. We took the hint.

Miles and Deirdre loaded the rolling buffet cart. This time the mission was to keep things cold rather than warm. That is how we arrived at the Green Wedge Riot.

The iceberg wedge is a wonderfully uncomplicated American invention. Take something cold, green and crunchy. Cover it with enough bacon, egg, tomato, onion and dressing that nobody mistakes it for punishment. Call it a salad.

Works for us.

But it is Not Your Average Wedge Salad!

Still suspicious of fresh vegetables after last summer’s shredded-lettuce scares? Relax. The wedge is back.

Traditionally, it is a substantial chunk of iceberg lettuce with blue-cheese dressing, bacon, tomato, chives and cheese crumbles. Around here, the toppings are applied more generously. Deirdre turns the rolling cart into a Cold Galley: chilled wedges in one tub, toppings in the others, and everybody builds the salad they want.

We favor creamy buttermilk ranch, crisp bacon, grated hard-boiled egg, red onion, tomato, fresh chives and buttery lemon breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs matter. They cling to the lettuce. Croutons attempt escape.

The Ingredients:

For six to eight people as part of a meal, start with one head of iceberg lettuce. Set out buttermilk ranch dressing, crisp bacon, hard-boiled eggs, red onion, tomatoes, fresh chives and breadcrumbs toasted in butter with salt, pepper and lemon zest. Blue cheese or Caesar dressing can stand in for the ranch.

You will need a sharp knife, cutting board, mixing bowl and whisk. No specialized training pipeline anticipated.

How to Build the Wedge

If you are making ranch, do it a couple of hours ahead and keep it cold. If you are taking the easy route, bottled dressing works. I usually have a couple of 20-ounce bottles of Hellmann’s on hand.

For a week-day watch turnover with afternoon and evening folks and a few lingering Day Staff, double the ingredients to feed roughly a dozen.

Strip any tired outer leaves from the iceberg. Cut the head in half, remove the stem and cut the halves into four large wedges, or keep cutting to make six to eight smaller ones. Rinse them in cold water and dry them well. There are enough liquids coming.

Dice the red onion and soak it briefly in cold water with a splash of vinegar. Grate the hard-boiled eggs. Toast the breadcrumbs in a little butter until golden, then add salt, pepper and lemon zest.

Now roll out the Cold Galley: lettuce, ranch, bacon, egg, onion, tomato, breadcrumbs and chives.
Then stand back. Start carvin’!

The wedge can be a side dish or dinner. Add grilled shrimp, chicken or sliced steak and nobody will ask when the main course arrives. Try blue cheese or Caesar instead of ranch. Add avocado, cucumber, radish, carrot ribbons or crispy onions.

Remember those ribs yesterday? Put a wedge next to them. It also works alongside prime rib, herb-roasted chicken, apple-cider pork shoulder, Chicken Piccata, red-wine braised beef or Pork Chops Florentine.
The rolling cart does not always have to arrive trailing steam. Sometimes Deirdre comes through the doors with the whole thing cold, green and loaded for action.

That is not rabbit food. That is a Green Wedge Riot.

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