Monday, December 13, 2010

My Favorite Caesar Salad

This is best done in the blender,  the emulsion blender can get a little messy if you're not careful.  The blade assembly on my blender is leaking and everytime I try to order it, it's out of stock.  Evidently, the blade assembly on this particular blender must is a lemon since so many sites carry it, and it's constantly out of stock.  I hate to buy a new one when the part to fix it only costs six bucks.

This is what you'll need:

Make a garlic paste made from 1 clove of smashed garlic, salt and  a drop or two of extra olive oil
2 tablespoons of anchovy paste
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
Juice of one lemons
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano (divided)
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Romaine lettuce (chilled)

Chill your salad bowl for about an hour in the fridge. When you’re ready to make your salad, take the cold bowl and evenly smear the garlic paste evenly over the inside. Now set the bowl back into the refrigerator until you're you've finished making the salad dressing.

Add to it the next five ingredients to your blender, then pulse it until they are thoroughly combined.

With your blender running on medium-high speed, pour in the olive oil in a thin stream, giving it a chance to uniformly emulsify. Then add Worcestershire, half of the Parmesan cheese, and salt and black pepper to taste. Pulse a couple of times more to blend in the cheese.  Refrigerate the dressing in a sealed container until you’re ready to use it.





To assemble the Caesar Salad, remove the chilled salad bowl from the fridge, tear the washed and drained Romaine lettuce into bite-size pieces, and add them to the bowl. Then add to the lettuce just enough dressing to coat it (more is not better!), sprinkle on the rest of the Parmesan, give everything a final toss, and serve it up garnished with garlic croutons.




24 comments:

Jennifer said...

Hey I have missed you! Congrats on the weight loss, I need to loose twice that! My husband loves Ceasar Salad, I should make this for him!

SusanD said...

I absolutely have missed you! Missed your humor. Missed your recipes. Apparently, you are missing part of yourself too. 38 pounds?!?!?! That's fabulous. Hopefully, we'll be seeing more of less of you. ahaha. Blessings, SusanD

Big Dude said...

Two posts in a week - things are looking up. We love caesar salad, especially with homemade dressing but rarely make it except for special occasions. Yours sounds delicious.

The JR said...

That sounds good! I like caesar salad.

Chris said...

Caesar salad is one of my favorites and always has been. I love the punch of flavor that it packs.

Our blender just died. We have killed 3 of them in 10 years and we hardly use them. I normally use the immersion blender or the food processor. They always break at the bottom.

teresa said...

LOVE homemade dressing, this sounds great!

gigi said...

Delish!

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I had taken a little break from blog-visiting along with blogging on my site. Glad to see that I did not miss too many recipes, as you were taking a break, too. Congrats on your weight loss!

The salad looks divine!

Penny said...

Again, so glad you are back. Chilling the bowl is a great tip and the homemade dressing sounds perfect. Will give it a try.

The Blonde Duck said...

You can never go wrong with this!

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

Glad you're back! Congrats on the weight loss! I will have to try this dressing!

Jeannette StG said...

Came from other blog -looks delicious -gotto try it sometime!

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Katherine, a Caesar salad is one of our favorites and making your own vinaigrette is a must. Yours sounds delicious.

Merry Christmas to you and your family. Again, we're all so glad you are back.
Sam

gigi said...

★Merry★* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★Christmas★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~\。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ | 田田 |門| ˚From our home to yours!! May God Bless You and Your's in the coming New Year!

gigi said...

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Many blessings this coming new year!

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Sorry thing I am, I adore even a bad Ceasar Salad and one well made is an absolute gift! Thanks for this recipe. May the worst of 2011 be from the best of 2010 for you and yours.

Christina said...

I have been craving a good caesar salad recently! I didn't know there was such a thing as anchovy paste. I like that because whole anchovies kinda gross me out.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

My favorite salad and you've made it look so easy, thanks!

Kathryn Magendie said...

Stopping by to tell you GMR was googling a recipe for King Cake Recipe with Hot Roll Mix and it led him right to your site! He said, "Hey, here's a La person's food blog - they're not in La anymore, but..." then he said the name - Smoky Mountain Cafe - I said, "hey! I know that blog!" :-D cool coincidence!

tavolini said...

subconsciously, you know that I bought a tube of anchovy paste last week, on sale, and *previously* had no clue what to do with it :)

thank you

Marjie said...

I've missed you! Hope everything is well with your job and the girls, and I hope the Christmas holidays didn't wreck you fabulous diet progress!

Anonymous said...

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Kathryn Magendie said...

heello? where ye be?

stopping to say hey!

Gloria Baker said...

Love Caesar salad and this look yummy, gloria