Grilled Romaine Salad

Yep. You can grill your salad. And when you do, you get the same effect as when you grill most anything else: You amp up the flavors. Romaine is perfect for the job because when you cut the heads in half, the stems are tenacious enough to hold each half together, but the leaves are loosely packed so the dressing can get in between them.

Makes 4 servings

Takes 30 minutes

• Lemon-Basil Dressing
• ¾ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• 24 fresh medium basil leaves
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Salad
• 12–16 cherry tomatoes, halved
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 heads romaine lettuce, cut in half lengthwise, rinsed and patted dry
• 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
• ½ cup candied or roasted pecans (see Note)

1. Prep. To make the dressing, add all the ingredients except the salt and pepper to a blender or food processor and puree. Season with salt and pepper.

2. To make the salad, season the tomato halves with salt and pepper and set aside. Paint the outsides of the romaine halves with some of the dressing. Set the remaining dressing aside for serving.

3. Fire up. Set up your grill for two-zone cooking and get the direct side to medium-hot.

4. Cook. Put the romaine halves on the direct-heat side of the grill and cook, lid up, until the edges of the leaves get dark. Turn the halves as they cook to brown both sides.

5. Serve. Place each romaine half on a plate. Divide the blue cheese, pecans, and tomatoes between the plates and finish with a generous drizzle of the dressing.

Note: If you can’t get candied nuts, toast some walnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat until they start to darken and get fragrant, about 5 minutes.