The salad was created back
in the early 1920's by Italian chef Caesar Cardini at his
restaurant in Tijuana in Mexico. It wasn't named after
Julius Caesar as some people think. The story goes that
Caesar Cardini had to quickly concoct a salad from limited
ingredients. He actually used a coddled egg in his
dressing and that is the correct way of making it .
To make my easy recipe the
coddled egg is replaced by mayonnaise. The advantage of using
mayonnaise in lieu of coddled egg is that the dressing keeps
better. In the authentic recipe the egg is barely coddled
- it is essentially raw! Raw eggs have to be dealt with
carefully.
The quantity of dressing I
make here really is too much for a Caesar side salad for 6 - 8
people so I save the extra dressing to use in a couple of days
time, or if you are a piggy like me, you pour some of the extra
dressing over your own plate.
I make a whole meal
version of this salad here
Caesar Salad Meal by adding diced bacon, diced cold
meat and cucumber. When I make this full meal version then
it is easy to use up the extra dressing as it coats itself
around the bacon and meat.
To convert any of these ingredients into US measurements please
use this
Quantity Conversion
Chart.
Ingredients
For croutons:
2 large slices bread, cubed
1 and 1/2 tablespoons oil
For dressing:
1 clove garlic
3 anchovy fillets
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Good pinch of salt
Pepper if liked
1/2 cup good quality virgin olive oil
200 gm mixed lettuce leaves
Extra 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
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Method:
Pre heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Place the bread cubes in a small basin and
sprinkle over the oil. Toss the bread cubes to coat them
as evenly as possible. Place them on an oven tray and bake
for 12 - 15 minutes until they are crisp and lightly golden. Set
aside.
Chop the garlic very finely. Place the
anchovies on top of the garlic on the cutting board and continue
chopping and squishing until the two ingredients become
paste-like. Place in a small bowl.
Add the mayonnaise, lemon juice,
Worcestershire sauce, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
Whisk together until well combined. Slowly drizzle the oil
into the mix, whisking at the same time. It pays to have a non
slip mat under the bowl at this point (or a third hand if you
happen to have one :)
Place rinsed and well dried, torn lettuce
leaves in a large bowl. Pour over as much dressing as desired.
Try using half, toss it and then decide if you need more.
Quickly toss in the croutons and mix well. Sprinkle the
extra parmesan on the top and serve immediately.
Serves about 8 people as a side salad.
Notes:
I have ordinary olive
oil in my pantry but in my fridge I have a small bottle of
what I call my "special quality extra virgin olive oil".
I only use this special olive oil for dishes like this
Caesar Salad. A good quality oil really does an add
extra dimension to a dressing like this one.
This really does make quite a lot of
dressing so don't tip the whole lot in - use your
discretion.
I've sometimes used crusts to make the
croutons.
Food Facts:
Olive oil is made from
pressing tree-ripened green olives. Almost the
entire production of green olives in Italy is
converted into olive oil. Due to different olive
varieties there are variances in the flavour,
consistency and colour of olive oil. Some olive
oils are prized much like vintage wine.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
is produced by the first pressing of the
olives and have less than 1% acidity.
Virgin Olive Oil is produced from olives
that are slightly riper than the ones used to
make extra virgin oil. It has 1.5% acidity
rating.
Refined Olive Oil has a natural acidity
of greater than 3.3% and it doesn't have a great
flavour or odour.
Pure Olive Oil is produced either from the
second pressing of the olives or from the
chemical extraction of the olive mash left after
the first pressing. It is light in colour and
bland in comparison to extra virgin oil. This
is a general purpose oil.
Olive oils with the word Pomace in the title
are not good quality and are not recommended
by olive oil experts.
Light and Extra Light Olive Oils contain
the same number of calories as regular olive
oil. They are derived from low quality olive
oils and are produced through chemical
processing. The word "light" is used to describe
the colour and flavour and has nothing to do
with the amount of fat in the oil.
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