Every Italian meal deserves a salad, right? This weekend, I made a Butternut Squash Risotto with Sage, and Chili Shrimp to celebrate my mom’s birthday, Mother’s Day, and another successful opera she put together with her company Belcantanti Opera.
I was standing in pantry deciding on flavors and my stack of anchovy tins caught my eye. I decided to make some Caesar dressing, fighting I could make the dressing in advance and assemble the salad when I get to my parents.
I go half and half with tradition with this dressing. I love the traditional flavors and do find that boiling the egg for a minute before emulsifying it helps the texture, but I am not in the mood to Whisk by hand to emulsify all of this oil. I use an immersion blender which works wonders and makes this process much quicker and less painless. You will make enough dressing for two salads, but I find that easier than trying to divide an egg in half.
You can use any time of salad greens. Romaine or escarole are the tradition, but I have been known to use frisée or arugula because I like the flavor!
Caesar Salad with Anchovies
dressing:
1 egg, boiled for 1 minute
1 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
5 anchovy fillets, ground/mashed
3 cloves garlic, mashed
3 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup Parmesan
1/8 tsp Tabasco or hot sauce
1/8 tsp Worcestershire
salt and pepper to taste
croutons:
5 inch baguette, very thinly sliced (1/16 inch)
2 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
salad:
10-12 cups of salad greens, escarole, romaine, arugula, frisée, kale (if you use kale, massage in the dressing with your fingers for 3 min)
Anchovies, drained
Parmesan, freshly grated
- Blend egg in a tall cup with immersion blender.
- Slowly add oil and continue to blend.
- Add remaining ingredients, blend until even.
- Season with salt and pepper. Adjust seasoning if needed, sometimes I like a bit more lemon juice.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Coat baguette slices in oil and butter. Season with salt and pepper.
- Toast in oven for 5 minutes, flip, and toast until just golden. Between 1-8 min more depending on how thin you sliced. Allow to cool.
- Add croutons and 1/2 cup dressing to a bowl. Mix and let absorb a few minutes.
- Add salad greens and 1/3 – 1/2 cup more dressing, to taste.
- Garnish with Anchovies and Parmesan. Serve immediately.
Total cooking time: 25 minutes, serves 6-8
Love your dressing! And the whole meal sounds wonderful.
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Thanks so much Mimi!
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