This meal used to be my late night default. I would get home after a long stretch at the library (or maybe a night out on the town), and whip up a fresh batch of this quirky little dish. I would fry up a few pieces of bacon, broil a thick slice of French bread, and put it all together with a sautéed mix of fresh garlic, tomatoes, and kalamata olives.
The bacon, tomatoes, olives and bread calmed all my nerves and lulled me right to bed.
I missed the strange delicious mixture too much and decided to give it a paleo twist.
To replace the bread, I halved a small head of Romaine lettuce and tossed them on the grill.
The paleo version is even better than the first! Grilled Romaine has an awesome crunch with a warm smoky flavor.
Let your inner food-adventurer out and dive in with a fork and knife. You won’t regret it.
Enjoy!
Paleo Grilled Romaine and Bacon Salad
Ingredients
- 1 Small Fresh Romaine Lettuce Head
- 6 Slices Bacon
- 2 Medium/Large Tomatoes cut into ~1/2 square inch pieces
- 2 Cloves Minced Garlic
- 8 Halved Kalamata Olives optional
- 1 tablespoon Chopped Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley
- 1/2 Lemon optional
- 1 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil EVOO
Instructions
- Set a grill pan (or outdoor grill) to high heat.
- Cut the lettuce in half by running knife through the largest stem on the head.
- Dip a folded pad of paper towels in the EVOO and rub over the grill pan where the lettuce will lay.
- Place the lettuce halves, cut side down, on the grill pan.
- Place a heavy plate on top of the lettuce to ensure the entire cut face makes contact with the grill. (Weight with additional material if the plate isn’t heavy enough).
- Cook the lettuce for 10-15 minutes, or until they have a nice char pattern.
- In a medium-sized pan, cook the bacon until crispy.
- Remove the bacon and blot on paper towels to remove excess grease.
- In the same pan (with the remaining bacon grease), add the tomatoes.
- Cook the tomatoes on medium/high heat for about 4 minutes.
- Add the garlic and stir for another 4 minutes.
- If desired, add the kalamata olive halves and stir for a few more minutes and then remove from heat.
- To plate, place three strips of bacon on each open face half of the grilled Romaine.
- Pour even amounts of the tomato, garlic, and olive sauté on top of the bacon.
- Sprinkle with the parsley and a small squeeze of lemon.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Will definitely be trying.
I hope y’all like it!
Oh my gosh, yum! I always forget that I want to try grilled romaine — this is a great reminder. Looks so good, especially cause there’s bacon involved too 😉