THE DAY BEFORE making the salad, peel and slice a clove of garlic and add
it to 1/2 cup olive oil. Let it seep overnight. (If you forget or the
salad is a last-minute decision, take a small clove, press it into the
same amount of oil, and mix well.)
Cube 3 or 4 slices of Italian or French bread. Take two Tsps of the
garlic oil, add it to your heaviest skillet, and heat to moderate low.
Add the bread cubes and let them brown slowly, stirring occasionally.
These are the croutons.
Take one big or two small heads romaine lettuce, wash it well, dry it well,
and tear it into big chunks into your largest salad bowl.
Over the lettuce twist your pepper mill several times. Give it a sprinkling
of dry mustard, about 1/2 tsp. Add a few drops of Worcestershire sauce.
Take 4-5 flat fillets of anchovies, chop them, and sprinkle them into the
bowl. If you don't have any fillets on hand, add about 1 tsp of anchovy
paste to the oil, and mix well. If you simply won't eat anchovies, omit
them, but I don't understand. Try Spam instead; maybe you'll end up with
something strange and wonderful, but probably not.
Sprinkle over the lettuce about 3 Tsp white wine vinegar (about half as much
oil as you have left after the crouton production). Add the remaining oil.
Break an egg into a cup, beat it just to blend it, and add it to the salad.
Juice one whole lemon over the entire affair with your lemon reamer.
Take a handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, maybe 1/3 cup, and add it
to the salad. Lastly, add the croutons.
Now, toss the salad well. Very well. Serve.
Serves at least six as a salad course, maybe more, but they'll want seconds.
Caesar Salad
This is a classic method of preparing Caesar Salad and
is best done at the table to entertain your dinner guests.
Prepare a serving cart or tray with a large wooden
salad bowl with 1 t. salt and 2 or 3 split garlic cloves and
a glass bowl of chilled torn romaine lettuce (about 1 lb.).
In 6 small bowls, such as custards, place:
1. 6 T. olive or salad oil
2. 2 T. wine vinegar, 1 T. lemon juice and 1/2 t.
worchestershire sauce
3. 4 finely cut filets of anchovy
4. 1 t. dry mustard, 1 t. fresh cracked black pepper and
1 T. parmesan cheese
5. 24 small croutons (bread cubes, browned in butter,
flavored with a garlic clove)
6. 1 fresh unbroken egg
Before starting, cover the egg with very hot water.
The five minutes it takes to mix the salad will properly
coddle the egg.
Proceed quickly as follows, keeping up a witty patter
throughout and making all moves with a flourish:
1. Spin the salad bowl and crush the garlic in the salt
over the inside of the bowl. A regular dinner fork works
best for this.
2. Remove the garlic, but leave the salt. Add the oil and
beat vigorously, twirling the bowl at a 45 degree angle all the
while. The guests love this.
3. Now: Stir in, in rapid succession, the bowl of lemon,
wine vinegar, etc.; the bowl of anchovies; and the bowl of
cheese, pepper, etc. Make sure this is whipped well.
4. Dump in the lettuce and toss a moment with your salad
fork and spoon.
5. Add the croutons on top and then, with a final flourish,
break the coddled egg. It will slide out of sight quickly.
6. Now toss thoroughly but gently. "Don't soak the bread"
is the key phrase. Place a generous helping on each salad
plate. The recipe serves six.
Caesar Salad
1 head Romaine lettuce
1 raw egg yolk (see note)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 cloves garlic
3 anchovy fillets (optional)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
Salt
Pepper
Croutons - either homemade or commercial plain or herbed
Depending on your personal belief system, either tear or cut the Romaine
into bite size pieces. Leave them to soak in ice water for 1/2 hour.
Immediately before serving, crush the garlic with the back of a (wooden)
spoon or with a fork in the bottom of the serving bowl. Add the drained
anchovy fillets and mash this all together. Move this mash over to a
side of the bowl so it is not in the way.
Put egg yolk in bowl and add lemon juice. Beat together with a whisk
until creamy and light in color -- about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Slowly
drizzle the olive oil into the bowl while continously whisking it into
the egg yolk mixture. If the oil starts to form globs on top of the
mixture, stop adding for a while and whisk what you can see in. You are
trying to form a mayonaise in this step. Use up to the 1/2 cup of oil.
If at any time you feel that the mixture might separate, do not add any
more oil but you should be able to easily get 1/4 cup of oil into the
emulsion without trouble.
Bring the garlic and anchovy mixture down from the side of the bowl and
whisk it in. Add the vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and some salt and
pepper. Taste and adjust ingredients to your liking.
and adjust flavors.
Remove lettuce from water and pat very dry with a towel. Put into
serving bowl, sprinkle on a bit of the parmesan cheese and toss to coat
the lettuce with the dressing.
Spread croutons over top, sprinkle on a little more cheese and serve
immediately.
Caesar Salad
1 head Romaine lettuce
4 cloves garlic, minced (or diced or mashed or whatever)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1 egg
2 or 3 shakes of Tobasco sauce
2 or 3 shakes of Watsdishere sauce (worchestershire)
2 or 3 grains of salt (or more if you're so inclined)
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Mix all ingredients except lettuce in a shaker and shake
until well mixed.
Break lettuce into bite sized pieces and put it into a bowl.
I find that a wooden bowl works well. Pour the sauce over
the lettuce and toss to coat. Enjoy.
Caesar Salad
For the Dressing: (makes enough for 3/4 people or for two people as a main dish)
-----------------
1 whole egg
1 dash Worcester sauce
1 can anchovies in olive oil (omit if disliked)
Juice of 1 lime
200 ml (approx) of olive oil
1 clove garlic crushed
Fresh Parmesan cheese grated
Pepper (no salt if anchovies used)
For the Croutons:
-------------------
1 tablespoon of Parmesan grated
Cubes of Crustless Bread (40g approx)
1 clove garlic crushed
For the Salad:
-----------------
1/2 heads romano lettuce (or possibly iceberg as a substitute)
Plenty of Parmesan cheese grated (don't use ready grated)
Directions for Croutons:
-------------------------
Preheat oven to 180C. Combine bread, garlic and parmesan in a bowl and spread
cubes on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 mins, being careful to remember them in the oven.
Directions for Dressing:
-------------------------
Blend egg with Worcester sauce, two anchovies, lime juice, garlic and pepper in a food processor/blender. Then with processor/blender still running, add olive oil from anchovies very slowly, drop by drop. Then add olive oil . (As you add more oil you can go a bit faster but be very slow to start.) Check
consistency as you go along. You may not need all the oil (I usually don't).
If the dressing is too thick, it's hard to toss the salad.
Directions for Salad:
-------------------------
Chop up rest of anchovies and toss with lettuce and dressing. Then toss Parmesan
into salad, and sprinkle croutons on top.
Hope my memory is reliable, and that I haven't omitted anything.
Caesar Salad
Make some garlic olive oil the day before. I use one clove of garlic,
crushed, and place it in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of some good olive oil.
If you are so inclined to make some croutons: coat some day old french
bread cubes with some olive oil and bake in a 325 degree oven till browned.
Or buy some at the store.
Have ready: 1 large egg, a head of romaine lettuce torn up into bite sized
pieces, 2-4 tbls of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 to 1/2 cup freshly
grated parmesan cheese.
To coddle the egg, immerse in boiling water for 1 minute.
In a bowl, place the lettuce, toss in a few croutons, give a generous twist
of the pepper mill. Add about a 1/4 cup or so of the garlic olive oil and
mix. Break the coddled egg into the bowl, sprinkle with some of the lemon
juice, and lift with a salad fork and spoon to mix. Toss in the cheese and
mix again.
Remove the plates from the freezer, add on your salad, and serve.
