(Bacon) Cheeseburger Chopped Salad (89 of 150)

My mom loved cheeseburgers. The sloppier the better. She passed that love on to me. That's part of how I keep my girlish figure. 

In the spirit of containing the girlish figure, I need to cut back a little. I still wanted the cheeseburger flavor but didn't want the carbs. I've made a Big Mac Salad a couple of times.  They're solid recipes and a good meal for a summer day. 

I made a slight modification to this recipe. I made the vinaigrette and didn't really care for it. So I made a "big mac" dressing instead. 1/4 c mayo, a big squirt of ketchup, shallot, dill pickle, some dill pickle juice, salt and pepper. It's a good dressing and much better than the vinaigrette IMHO. Though I liked the mustard slant, I just wanted something different. 

I also added bacon to this recipe. I mean every good salad has bacon bits in it. Plus I had some left over from breakfast, so I chopped it up and added it. 

Now, as a chop salad, the idea is to "chop" everything together and mix the salad so all the items are about the same size. But before I did that, I had to make sure I took the quintessential "chopped salad" pic. 

 

Then I mixed it all together. 

I have a feeling tomorrow's salad at lunch time will be just as good as this one was. I'd make this again for sure. It's super easy and can be thrown together quickly.

Cheeseburger Chopped Salad

Recipe from How Sweet Eats

Serves 4

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 6 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, freshly grated
• 8 c butter lettuce
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
• 1/3 c chopped dill pickles
• 1/4 c diced red onion
• salt and pepper for seasoning

Dill Pickled Vinaigrette

• 1/4 c diced dill pickles
• 3 T dill pickle juice (from a jar of dill pickles)
• 2 T diced shallot
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once it’s hot, add the ground beef, garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Break the mixture apart with a spoon and cook until browned, stirring over and breaking the pieces into crumbles, for about 6 to 8 minutes. Turn off the heat and sprinkle about 2 ounces of the cheddar over the beef so it slightly melts. You can serve this salad with the beef hot or room temp – so if necessary, you can make this a bit ahead of time!

Place the butter lettuce on a cutting board and run your knife through it to chop it into pieces. Ideally we want everything in uniform pieces so each bite is perfect. Chop up the lettuce, then throw it in a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss it well. Add the tomatoes next, the dill pickles and the diced onion. Add the remaining shredded cheese. Toss the salad well, drizzle on the dressing and serve!

Dill Pickled Vinaigrette

In a bowl, whisk together the pickles, pickle juice, shallot, garlic, mustard and honey. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and whisk until the mixture comes together. While whisking, stream in the olive oil until the dressing emulsifies. This stays great in the fridge for a few days!