Caesar Salad With Mostly Homemade Dressing
I LOVE Caesar Salad, especially with grilled chicken added. If you make it spicy, that’s even better!
I prefer to make my own, simply because at a restaurant they charge WAY too much for it. I was recently at a restaurant out in Spicewood, TX, that shall remain nameless, where they charged me $10 for a bowl of Caesar Salad, and an additional $4 for essentially one and a half chicken tenderloins added. Stupid. I’ll make my own, thanks. And you can too!
By starting with store bought mayo, it makes the dressing so simple. It comes out ridiculously delicious.
To make the salad and dressing, you’ll need…
- 3 Romaine Hearts
- Mayo
- Anchovies
- Pre-made Anchovy paste
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Stale bread
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Small-ish lemon
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Pepper (in a grinder)
- Freshly shredded/grated Peccorino Romano and Parmagiano Reggiano
- Red Pepper Flake (Optional)
- Start out by chopping up three (or more if you prefer) Anchovies. After chopping them you want to “Smash-Chop” them, occasionally chopping, then pulling the blade of your knife down against them on the cutting board to smash them. Doing this repeatedly will meld them into sort of Anchovy paste. You’ll be using some pre-made, store bought Anchovy paste as well, but I just like the texture this hand smash-chopped mix brings. Add to a small bowl with about a teaspoon of the store bought Anchovy paste. (Technique demonstrated in video posted below)
- Mince 4 large cloves of garlic fine (or use a garlic press) and add to the Anchovies mixture.
- Add 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce and about a teaspoon of soy sauce.
- Dump 1/2 cup of your favorite mayo (I like Dukes, but use what you like) into the bowl.
- Drizzle in a teaspoon or two of Apple Cider Vinegar.
- Add the juice of half of the small-ish lemon and mix it all together to combine.
- Add some fresh cracked black pepper and then set it all aside in the fridge for at least an hour, or better yet, overnight to let the flavors meld together very well. (If you like spicy, feel free to add some red pepper flake as well).
- To make croutons, slice your stale bread (I like Sourdough) into 1 inch by 1/2 inch cubes. Toss in a bowl with about a tablespoon or two of olive oil (not the fancy stuff), and season with salt and pepper (I also used some Cavenders Greek Seasoning). Dump into a pan and put in the oven at 300 for about 20 minutes or so, or until they look gorgeously golden brown. Don’t forget about them like I’ve done in the past, or you’ll have brick brown (or carbon black) croutons and they don’t taste awesome at that point. Keep and eye on them and check them every 5-10 minutes until they turn beautiful. Take them out and let them cool.
- For the chicken, I used tenderloins. They’re just easier to mess with for me. Pat them dry with paper towels and them coat them lightly with olive oil (not the fancy stuff) and shake on some coarse sea salt or kosher salt, and some freshly cracked black pepper. Grill or pan sear until done. Let them cool and dice them up to add once you’re ready to eat.
- After the croutons and the grilled chicken are done and have cooled, wash and rough chop the Romaine hearts. Don’t do this until you’re about ready to eat.
- Grate/shred up the Romano and Parm and…
Once you’re ready to chow down, put it all together!
Here are some pictures of the process, and also the video of the smash-chop technique.
