One of my favorite restaurants, is Maggiano’s. Unfortunately I don’t get to one very often as we don’t have one in our town and even though the closest one isn’t very far, it is always busy. Every time that I have gone, I get their house salad. It is delicious!
I decided to try re-create their salad. I started by googling Maggiano’s salad and up popped lots of copycat recipes. I found the one that I thought seemed most like it and tweaked it to make my version. It isn’t exactly the same, but it’s pretty close.
*Disclaimer-when you crisp up the prosciutto, be careful! It goes fast and can get quite smokey if you aren’t careful. Now, I’m not saying that I know this from experience, and I’m not saying that I may or may not have set off the fire alarm that is attached to our alarm system. And that I didn’t know the code to turn it off. I’m not saying, any of that happened, I’m just saying to keep your eye on the prosciutto!
This salad is the perfect combination of slightly salty from the prosciutto and gorgonzola and a little sweet from the dressing all on top of crunchy iceberg (or romaine) lettuce.
My Maggiano's Salad
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 TBSP dijon mustard
- 1 TBSP white sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 & 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup light olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 5 cups chopped iceberg or romaine lettuce or combination of both
- 3 oz gorgonzola cheese
- 1 package thin sliced prosciutto
- 1 small red onion thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup olive oil for cooking prosciutto
Instructions
- To prepare dressing:
- Combine all ingredients except for oil & oregano in blender. Blend until smooth.
- With blender running, stream in olive oil.
- Add oregano and blend till mixed.
- Heat oil in large skillet over med heat. Add prosciutto and cook until brown and crispy. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Set aside.
- In large bowl, toss the lettuce, onions, gorgonzola cheese, and crispy prosciutto bits. Lightly drizzle on dressing (start with a little, you can add more to your taste preference) and toss to combine.
This sounds like the perfect salad, I have been eating a lot of salads lately, and I can’t wait to try yours.
I don’t know what I like more about this salad, the proscuitto or the gorgonzola?? This looks amazing!
Yum! I prosciutto on a salad- how can you go wrong?!
Talk about whipping up a storm with flavours Renee, this sounds delightful and perfect for the late summers afternoons we have returned to after a week of rain 🙂
Love that crunchy ice berg lettuce! This whole salad looks crunchy and delicious!
I’ve never had the original salad, but yours looks AMAZING! I always love a good new salad recipe – I have one nearly everyday for lunch. Yum!
Ah, Maggiano’s – it’s my “had-a-bad-day-must-order-giant-bowl-of-pasta-to-feel-better” place. I know it’s supposed to be family-style, but I never share 🙂 Great job with the salad – recreating restaurant favorites at home is always fun to do!
This salad is outstanding! I was a tad skeptical about the amount of water in the dressing, but it emulsified perfectly – absolutely delicious salad!