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We've made many great dressings in the past, everything from a chili honey dressing to a balsamic Dijon but we've never done Cesar. So last week we went for it, a homemade Caesar dressing. Now a true Caesar calls for a raw egg and has no cream involved whatsoever. Funny how every Caesar on the shelf these days is mostly cream and has no egg. See what we mean about making it yourself? A real Cesar is combination of lemon, vinegar, spices, mustard and yes that raw egg (Charisse substituted a tablespoon of mayo instead since we didn't want to freak out our dinner guests). It was tart and had a bite to it and went well the the homemade croutons and Reggiano cheese.
To kick up this dish I decided to make homemade croutons, instead of buying the packaged ones. Nobody should really ever need to pay for croutons, which are basically stale baked bread. Seriously this is the easiest thing ever, and if you have half a loaf of bread lying around, the cheapest. Why we ever paid $4.00+ for a bag of these things we'll never understand. Be sure to make , its a great healthy snack and people will be doing "Quality Control" long before they hit the plate. Best part, you can just toss in any herbs you have on hand for a quick creating and very little effort or cost.
Pictures and Recipe after the break
Croutons
What You Will Need
Bread any type ( I used a multi-seed baguette, but any type will do. Dried out bread is even better!)
Olive Oil
Butter
Herbs and Spices ( I used garlic salt, oregano, basil, rosemary, and parsley)
Preheat oven to 400*
Cut bread into cubes and toss with enough olive oil and melted butter to coat all the cubes.
Toss with all the herbs and spices
Lay out on a cookie sheet and bake until golden brown being careful not to burn. About 15 minutes for mine.
Let cool and keep out so they dry out
Caesar Dressing
What You Will Need
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove (minced)
2 Tbs white wine vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbs olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 raw egg ( or you can substitute 1 Tbs mayonnaise)
pinch of sugar
Whisk all of the ingredients in the bottom of a large salad bowl. Add romaine lettuces leaves and toss. Top salad with croutons and shaved reggiano cheese.
adapted from Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home
aww, no anchovies? :P i've been making a grilled caesar where you grill baguette slices on the grill to make croutons and then grill the cut side of hears of romaine lettuce. the salad ends up warm and a little wilted, but it has a great flavor.
ReplyDeletei love your guys' blog, btw. :)
To M.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds delicious! Summers coming which means lots of grilling in our household! I love warm salads!
Sorry about the lack of anchovies! You may of course add minced anchovies in there, I love the flavor but sadly my husband does not! Oh well what can you do!
We make our own Caesar dressing too, but ours has chopped anchovies and we use olive oil. And yes, raw egg yolks. :-) Your salad looks delicious. Thanks for the directions for croutons. :-)
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