Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Caesar salad

Yes, I know the salad is a mess but it really was a lazy rainy day.

There has been loads of talk about Caesar salad in my life recently and then my cousin mentioned that she had a great Caesar dressing recipe where you briefly boil your egg before making the mayonnaise dressing which intrigued me. It is supposed to make the dressing creamier. So on this lazy Sunday afternoon I threw together two Caesar salads… (which, I might add, I have never made before).

I really loved the dressing and have eaten the left overs of it on a pizza, on rice and on pasta since then… seriously good. I would however like to add an anchovy next time (I didn’t have any but I like the salty tangy flavour they add). 


The rest of the salad was good in theory but I over baked (euphemism for burned) the croutons and didn’t wash the lettuce (rooky error). So with a little more care than I gave it, I think this is a salad which deserves to be blogged about today and will most certainly be remade soon!

Please send me other tips and recipes for Caesar salad if you have any exceptional ones. I added grilled chicken and goats cheese to mine, cause I had them in the fridge and wanted a meal replacement salad. The chicken is a great addition but the goats cheese didn’t add much to the salad.

Caesar Salad
Cos or romaine lettuce (washed and dried)
Parmesan shavings
Optional (but traditional) - anchovy fillets
Optional - grilled chicken breast pieces
Optional - boiled egg, quartered
Garlic croutons*
Caesar dressing*



*Garlic Croutons
Cut up cubes of bread (bread of choice), I use about a cup of bread (about 1cm squared cubes) per person.
Toss with a little crushed garlic, salt and olive oil and bake spread out on an oven sheet until crispy (about 200˚C for about 10 minutes). Keep a close eye on them, as they burn easily.

*Caesar Dressing
Makes about ½ a cup of dressing


4 tsp of lemon juice
2 tsp of Worchester sauce
1 medium sized clove of garlic
1 anchovy fillet (optional)
50g of parmesan cheese
1 tsp of dijon mustard
1 x 45 sec boiled egg (egg boiled for 45 seconds)
1/3 - 1/2 a cup of a mild grassy olive oil (sunflower oil is also good)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a stick blender jar blend all the ingredients, except the oil and seasoning, together until smooth. Add the oil, place the stick blender at the bottom of the blender jar and blend pulling the blender slowly from the bottom of the jar up through the mixture. Then pump the blender around until the mixture is smooth and slightly thickened. If you want the dressing a bit thinner, add some extra oil (sunflower oil if you think the olive oil taste is too strong). Season with salt and pepper. You can also add more lemon juice, mustard or worchester sauce if you feel it needs it.


Now arrange your salad leaves. On top of that arrange the other salad ingredients. Scatter with croutons last and then dress just before serving. 

1 comment:

  1. This is my most favourite salad but only order it in restaurants. My favourite was in a place called Merrimbula down the south Pacific coast (Saffire Coast) of Australia.Most Ceasar salads in Oz come with bacon bits as well as chicken. I have eaten a salad with a poached egg that made the salad very creamy. Love to try your recipe!

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