Caesar Salad is one of those recipes that takes 5 minutes to buy bagged from the grocery store and maybe 20 minutes to make completely from scratch. If it’s a Wednesday night and traffic stinks and you’re already running late, go with option A. But if you have some time and want to expand your horizons in the kitchen, option B is so easy to achieve. As with all of our recipes, play with the dressing to get it to taste exactly the way you like it. Tuck’s mom likes extra mustard, Tate’s mom likes extra lemon. Taste and season on repeat until you get the version you like best.
Homemade Caesar Salad
Makes: 4 servings (as a side salad)
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients for the Salad:
- 2 small heads romaine lettuce, cut into bite sized pieces
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 baguette
- 3 tbs butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper to taste
Ingredients for the Dressing:
- 1 raw egg yolk
- juice and zest from 1 lemon
- 1 glove garlic
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 2 anchovy fillets (optional)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the baguette into large, bite-sized pieces. Put the minced garlic and 3 tbs butter in the microwave and heat until just melted. Place the baguette pieces on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with the garlic and butter mixture, tossing it all with your hands to evenly coat. Season the croutons with salt and pepper; bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until brown and crispy.
- While the croutons are baking, make the dressing. Use a food processor or immersion blender to blend all of the dressing ingredients, minus the vegetable oil, together. Mix until thoroughly blended. Continue to blend and slowly add the vegetable oil until it is completely absorbed in the dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Assemble the salad by layering the romaine and parmesan cheese. Add the croutons hot out of the oven and slather with dressing. If you are like Tuck’s mom, add lots of freshly cracked black pepper.
TUCK & TATE 