Grilled baby gem salad has many tasty components
We had a delicious meal at Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar. We would love to have the recipe for the Grilled Baby Gem Salad. It was so good! It listed jalapeno buttermilk dressing that was over the top … not too spicy at all. Would you see if they would share the recipe? Thanks. — Barbara Selby, Marietta
Every time we get a recipe request for one of Doug Turbush’s restaurants, we are pretty sure he will share and if he does, we know it will be delicious.
This salad has a number of components, which is a good reason to enjoy it in the restaurant where they do all this work for you, but any of the individual recipes is a standout on its own.
Baby gem lettuce is a relatively new lettuce variety. Also called “little gem,” it is sturdy like romaine lettuce but, as its name implies, each head is just right for one serving. If you can’t find it at your local farmers market, try using hearts of romaine instead, perhaps a half romaine heart per serving.
Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar’s Grilled Baby Gem Salad
- 4 heads baby gem lettuce, cleaned, quartered, core trimmed but head kept in one piece
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup Jalapeno Buttermilk Dressing (see recipe)
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 pound feta, sliced into long thin rectangles
- 1 cup Marinated Olives (see recipe)
- 1 cup Blistered Tomatoes (see recipe)
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, fried and crumbled
- Heat grill. In a medium bowl, combine the lettuce and olive oil and toss to coat. When grill is hot, arrange lettuce on grill and cook until the lettuce just begins to char, about 2 minutes, turning to char all sides.
- In a large bowl, combine grilled lettuce with dressing. Taste for seasoning. Arrange lettuce on four serving plates and divide feta, olives and tomatoes between the plates. Garnish with fried oregano leaves and serve. Serves 4
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving: 386 calories (percent of calories from fat, 78), 11 grams protein, 11 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 35 grams fat (13 grams saturated), 61 milligrams cholesterol, 1,041 milligrams sodium.
Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar’s Jalapeno Buttermilk Dressing
Leftover dressing will keep for several days and would be delicious as a substitute for any use where you’d serve ranch dressing. We particularly liked it as a dip for carrots and sugar snap peas.
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup basil leaves
- 1/2 jalapeno, roasted, then peeled and seeded
- 1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
- Salt and pepper
- In the jar of a blender, combine buttermilk, sour cream, mayonnaise, basil, jalapeno, celery seed, garlic powder, onion powder, lemon zest and lemon juice. Puree until smooth. Season to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes: 2 1/4 cups
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per 1/4 cup: 137 calories (percent of calories from fat, 88), 2 grams protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 13 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 11 milligrams cholesterol, 106 milligrams sodium.Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar’s Marinated Olives
Go ahead and make this full recipe. The olives you don’t use in the salad will keep in your refrigerator for weeks and make delicious nibbles.
- 1 pound pitted Nicoise olives
- 1 cup olive oil
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon chopped thyme
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- In a large bowl, combine olives, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, thyme and red pepper flakes. Mix well and put in a covered container. Let sit at least one day before serving. Refrigerate within one day. Olives will keep for several weeks. Bring to room temperature before serving. Makes: 2 1/2 cups
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per 1/4 cup: 245 calories (percent of calories from fat, 94), trace protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 26 grams fat (4 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 396 milligrams sodium.Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar’s Blistered Tomatoes
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 sprigs thyme
- Salt and pepper
- Heat broiler.
- In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes and olive oil. Arrange tomatoes in a baking dish. Add thyme. Broil until the skins burst and begin to char. Remove from broiler and season to taste. May be made ahead and refrigerated up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature and remove thyme before serving. Makes: 1 1/2 cups
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per 1/4 cup: 55 calories (percent of calories from fat, 79), trace protein, 2 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 5 grams fat (1 gram saturated), no cholesterol, 19 milligrams sodium.From the menu of … Drift Fish House & Oyster Bar, The Avenue East Cobb, 4475 Roswell Road, Marietta. 770-635-7641. driftoysterbar.com/
Is there a recipe from a metro Atlanta restaurant you’d like to make at home? Tell us and we’ll try to get it. We’ll also test it and adapt it for the home kitchen. Because of volume, we can’t answer all inquiries. Send your request, your address and phone number to fromthemenu@gmail.com and put “From the menu of” and the name of restaurant in the subject line.
RELATED:
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
