Grilled Caesar Salad
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
The Caesar Salad is classic salad that brings visions of servers in white tuxedos. Creating a dressing tableside from scratch. There's a reason this simple but classic has lasted the test of time. There's a salty richness that the anchoives and egg yolks bring to the dressing. With a tang from the lemon and mustard. Once you master this dressing you are ready to make any salad dressing. Some will nose up toward the thought of making a dress with raw eggs. I've been making this dressing for yours but please don't that as an endorsement to cooking with raw eggs. It's your choice and there are plenty of recipes out there that use mayo instead of the raw eggs.
Ingredients
Greens
2 heads Romaine lettuce
olive oil
Croutons
3 slices sourdough bread
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. Kosher salt
Dressing
6 anchovy filets
1 garlic clove, finely grated
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
½ cup olive oil
½ cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Greens
Cut each head of the Romaine lettuce in half, lengthwise.
Light coat the cut end of each of the Romaine lettuce halves.
Using either a gas cooktop or grill, place the Romaine lettuce halves, cut side down on the grill.
Char the cut side until the inside is slightly charred. Approximately 3 minutes.
Remove the Romaine lettuce halves from the grill/cooktop. Side aside and allow to cool.
Once cooled, cut off the end and discard. Chop remaining lettuce at 1 - 1½" increments. Place in a large mixing bowl.
Croutons
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Cut the bread slices into ½ cubes and place in a small mixing bowl.
Mixing the whole time, add the olive oil and salt to the bread. You are wanting to lightly coat the bread, not have it soak into the bread.
Place the bread cubes on a sheetpan and place in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until toasted on the outside and chewy on the inside.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once cooled add the croutons to the same mixing bowl as the charred Romaine lettuce.
Dressing
Finely chop the anchovy filets.
Add the garlic and a pinch of Kosher salt to the anchovy filters. Using the side of your knife, work the salt back and forth against the garlic and anchovy filets to make a paste.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the anchovy paste, egg yolks, mustard and lemon juice. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
While still whisking, slowly drizzle the olive oil into the dressing. You wanting the air in the dressing and also to get the yolks and olive to oil to emulsify.
Once you stop whisking you should not see any clear seperation of olive oil from the rest of the dressing. If you do, keep whisking.
Add the grated Parmesan cheese and whish to combine.
Season with fresh ground pepper and lemon juice if needed.
Assembly
Add the Caesar dressing to the bowl of the charred Romaine lettuce and croutons, 1 tablespoon at a time. Mixing each tablespoon in the salad. This allows for more control of the dressing to salad ratio. If you think you added to much dressing, you did.
Plate the salad and top with strips of Parmesan cheese and one turn of fresh ground pepper.
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