Chopped Salad With Lemon Basil Dressing

Leslie in Texas's Note:

This is one of my all-time favorite salads! I've had it twice at Ruth's Chris Steak House and was excited to find this copycat recipe on the web.It's an eclectic mix of 11 ingredients and you can customize it to suit personal tastes.The restaurant makes the onion rings by coating thinly sliced red onion rings with flour, then deep-frying in oil, but you can substitute canned french-fried onion rings if desired (granted, they're not the same) or skip the onion rings entirely. This recipe makes 4 main-dish salads ( my girlfriend and I usually split one salad at the restaurant and it's plenty!)

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

For Salad

• 8 cups packed julienne strips iceberg lettuce (or chopped iceberg lettuce or can substitute romaine lettuce)
• 1 cup packed julienned strips fresh spinach
• 1 cup packed julienned strips radicchio
• 1/3 cup very thin slices red onion (or chopped red onions)
• 1/2 cup chopped green olives
• 6 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced, washed and drained (about 2 cups)
• 4 eggs, hard-boiled and chopped
• 1 (14 ounce) can chilled hearts of palm, rinsed, well-drained and sliced
• 1/2 lb applewood-smoked bacon, chopped, fried until crisp, drained
• 1 cup crumbled blue cheese (4 oz.)
• 1/2 cup crouton
• cherry tomatoes, halved
• crispy fried onions, for garnish

For Lemon Basil Dressing

• 2 cups sour cream (or use 1 cup sour cream and 1 cup mayonnaise)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 4 -5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)
• seasoned salt and garlic pepper seasoning

Directions:

1. In a very large bowl, combine lettuce,spinach,radicchio,red onions,green olives,mushrooms,eggs,hearts of palm and bacon; toss well.
2. Add crumbled blue cheese, croutons and about 1/2 to 3/4 of Lemon Basil Dressing; toss until well mixed.
3. Divide salad among 4 dinner plates, garnish with cherry tomato halves and top salads with crispy fried onions.
4. For Lemon Basil Dressing:.
5. Combine all ingredients,add seasoned salt and garlic pepper to taste.
6. Mix well; refrigerate until serving.
7. Refrigerate any leftover dressing.

Reviews

[dbstewart]

Wow! My husband had never had the chopped salad at RC, but I had. When I made this for Christmas, he totally flipped out! Now he requests about every couple of weeks. It is craveable! Don't bother trying to fry your own onions for topping. They end up getting soggy. Just buy the french fried onion rings in a can. Stir some into the salad, as well as topping it. Adds extra crunch!
I'm making this tonight again. Can't wait. Yummy!!