Prosciutto, Date & Gorgonzola with a Cheesy Italian Vinaigrette

It’s sunny & warm & light out past 10. It’s f*cking summer and I’m committed to making as many meals as I can without turning on the stove in any capacity. The time for summer salads is here, and the winning combo of summer 2019 is becoming summer salads + picnic table dinner + Netflix. It essentially equates to low key dinners in the backyard followed by a Netflix nightcap & snuggle on the couch, which is becoming a favored routing around my house these days.

One of my favorite salads that is so tasty when served iced cold and fresh out the fridge is a Prosciutto, Date & Gorgonzola with a Cheesy Italian Vinaigrette. So refreshing from all the ice cold veggies + soft & salty cheese & prosciutto bits dispersed throughout the whole thing. & everytime you get a chopped date with a forkful of salad it’s a little nugget of sweetness that tastes so yummy with salty cheese & meat & ice cold veggies.

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It’s a salad, and one that really requires no real prep or cooking. You can pull it together with a bag of good quality salad mix (something extra crunchy - like kale) and simply chopping up dates, walnuts, and cheese. Sprinkle all the items evenly on top of the salad and strategically place torn prosciutto, and you’ve got one hell of a summer salad.

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The only thing that requires any real preparation is the dressing, and it’s so good it’s worth the homemade touch. Mascarpone is the creamy base to this dressing. It’s silky, soft, butter-like texture gives the dressing almost mimics mayo, but it’s mascarpone and just so much better than mayonnaise. You do add a bunch of blue cheese, but the elimination of mayo and hefty dose of red wine vinegar makes it taste way dinner than a typical blue cheese dressing. It’s chunky, yet pretty acidic, and super flavorful. & it whips together so easily in a food processor - throw all the ingredients in, blend them up, and you’ve got dressing. & last thing - no added oil. Even though there’s quite a hefty amount of cheese in this bad boy, I still consider it a win.

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For the Dressing

  • 1/2 c. mascarpone cheese

  • 1/4 c. crumbled blue cheese, preferrably gorgonzola

  • 3 tbsp red wine vinegar

  • Salt & pepper

For the Salad

  • One bag of crunchy salad mix, like a kale mix (I love the Cruciferous Crunch for Trader Joe’s)

  • 4 slices of prosciutto

  • 12-14 dates

  • 1/4 c. gorgonzola, cut into thin slices

  • 1/4 c. walnuts, thinly sliced

Start making the dressing. Add all of the dressing ingredients along with a pinch of both salt & pepper to a food processor. Blend until the the blue cheese is broken up and you have a mildly chunky dressing. Taste and add additional seasoning if needed. Set aside in the fridge.

Place the bed of lettuce in the serving dish you intend to use. Slice the dates into 4 pieces, and roughly chop the nuts. Spinkle each evenly over the top of the lettuce. Next, lay the cheese over the top and lightly breaking up the slices so it’s still pretty chunky. Next, tear each piece of prosciutto into 3 pieces, rolling each broken off piece around your finger so the prosciutto is neatly wadded up. Lay the prosciutto evenly over the top. The final step is dolloping the dressing right on top of the salad. Ta-da!

Lesley Zehner