I've worked in restaurants for about 10 years now. This is the Ceasar salad you've been missing out on. I've been going out to restaurants for a lot longer, and my go-to pre-dinner salad is Ceasar. It's light, it's crisp, it's tasty and simple. This is NOT a simple Ceasar in terms of flavor. This will blow the other ones away. This is a traditional recipe and made me realize that every Ceasar I've ever had was a watered-down version of the real thing.
Guys, if you cook or don't, and want to impress a lady, this is a guaranteed way to impress her. I make this salad almost once a week. I've made it for parties and visiting guests. It's a fun thing to prepare because it's easy, makes you look like a badass chef, and everyone is always impressed.
TL;DR at the bottom
I'm going to walk you through how to do it. It might seem like a lot of steps but, honestly, getting everything out and prepped takes more time than actually making the salad. It takes me about 8 minutes to make.
Starting from the left we have extra virgin olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard(stone ground mustard works great too for a more pungent mineral-flavored dressing), Tabasco sauce, an egg resting in warm water, and anchovies. We have a triangle of parmesan cheese with a grater, whole lemon(you're only going to use half of it), fresh cracked pepper, and hearts of romaine(I'm using 2 whole hearts this time). I have a mixing bowl(cherry wood works best but those are like $500 for the size I need) 2 forks and you'll see 2 cloves of garlic sitting in the bowl. Off to the right, you'll see peeled shrimp sitting in the sink(my protein for this meal) and off to the far left you'll see a wine glass. That's my cooking wine. We're not going to cook it. We're going to drink it while we cook. More on that later.
Why are we using forks instead of a knife to chop it up first or a food processor or something less medieval and labor-intensive? Because it tastes better this way. You want all the essence crushed into the bowl and onto the prong of the forks. If you want to do it a different way, be my guest, but I'm going to advise you to try it this way first. I've seen this almost exact recipe made with a good processor, it doesn't taste anywhere near the same. This salad is going to taste alive.
I'm showing you here how I use the forks. Dice it up between the prongs. The finer you get it the better. This is a very important part. I spend a few minutes on this.
Use the base of the fork to crunch and flatten solid pieces. Press and move in a circling motion around the base to spread it out.
Here is about how your garlic should look when done pulverizing. It should resemble a paste in appearance and texture.
Add 1-2 anchovies. This one was a little larger so I did 1.5. This is not going to taste fishy at all at the end. The anchovy adds salt more than anything. It also is necessary for the dressing to emulsify. The fresher the better when it comes to seafood, this is no exception.
Grind up the anchovy as you did with the garlic; combining the two. Once you don't feel any hard spots or fibrous resistance from the anchovy, you should have a paste.
This part can take a little practice. It's not difficult if you tell yourself it's not. Gently tap the egg along the edge of the glass until you get a crack all the way around in the center of the egg.
Gently remove the top and let all the fun stuff drip off. From here you're going to transfer the yolk into one half-shell and back to the other. The point is to remove any and all egg white. This is crucial because your dressing won't come together if there's egg white in it.
You'll see in the middle, the garlic/anchovy paste with egg yolk and about a tablespoon of dijon mustard. Up top, you'll see a few dashes of Tabasco. Moving clockwise you have some Worcestershire, and then to red wine vinegar. All these sauces and flavors pull at each other in different directions. You want a harmony so that they come together. That being said, these are not precise measurements. If you want a more acidic dressing, add more rwvinegar. More savory and smoky, add more Worcestershire. If you want more spice, Tabasco.
Hold the same two forks you used earlier in one hand. Delicate grip and start whisking. Once everything in the bowl is starting to turn the same color, start adding olive oil. You can do this at your own pace but start out slow. Add a little and whisk whisk whisk. You're constantly whisking. You want to watch for the olive oil mixing into the sauce until it's opaque. No oil sitting on top, no translucence. All one dressing. If you add the olive oil too fast you'll break the sauce. The dressing should start turning a lighter color as you add more olive oil. You can add it by pouring continuously, just watch your sauce so that it doesn't break.
Once your'e done the dressing should be fluffy and thick. If you lift your forks up it should drop off in globs. If it's runny, you need more whisking.
You can compare the bottle now to when it was completely full. Again, no exact measurement, that's not what this recipe is about. Everyone makes this salad differently, and mine tastes different every time. That's part of the fun!
Cut through the romaine heart, flip it a quarter or half and do it again.
Cut strands about a half inch in length. We cut the sides into quarters so that the strands aren't as long. If you like big leafy pieces of lettuce, cut it that way. This way will create a more textured bite.
Chopped lettuce goes in the bowl.
The triangular end I cut off will be put into the grinder and tossed with the salad.
Grind the entire end piece, and squeeze half a lemon. The lemon is essential. (Squeeze it onto a small plate to catch the seeds). Grind cracked black pepper if you like.(I do)
Get some tongs and gently toss. Make sure you get all the dressing off of the bottom.
The two lower bars will be ground on top of two individually plated salads. I like cheese.
Plate the salad and grind the cheese. Should look like this when done.
Now I'm going to cook the shrimp. That is the only seasoning I used. Use whatever you like, that's a premixed blackening seasoning that's quick and easy.
Turn your stove to high heat. Throw half a stick of butter in the skillet and let it melt. Throw your shrimp in the skillet. Seasoning. Toss and cook for about 5 minutes. Easy.
Add the shrimp. I typically do this recipe with a grilled piece of salmon, but most seafood goes wonderfully with it. I've done shrimp, chicken, salmon, redfish, swordfish, ham, and steak. Cajun seasoning on the protein seems to be good friends with the dressing as well.
This is my cooking wine. It pairs very nicely with the entire meal. Very crisp.
This is a great meal for two. It's not hard and doesn't really take extra time to make it for 4 or more. Thanks for reading, I hope this recipe wasn't too wordy, as it is designed for people who have been cooking for years or never before.
Ingredients:
2 hearts of romaine
2 cloves of garlic
2 anchovies
1 egg
1 lemon
fresh cracked black peppercorns
dijon or stone ground mustard
Tabasco
Worcestershire
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
parmesan cheese
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 lb of shrimp(peeled with tail removed)
Louisiana blackened seasoning or other blackened seasoning
Preparation:
- Grind garlic into paste-like texture and appearance in large mixing bowl.
- Add anchovy and grind and mix with garlic into paste.
- Crack egg and remove all egg white until only the yolk remains.
- Add yolk to mixing bowl.
- Add 1 tbsp of dijon or stone ground mustard.
- Add 3 dashes of Tabasco.
- Add 2 dashes of Worcestershire.
- Add 2 dashes of red wine vinegar.
- Begin whisking.
- Slowly and continuously add extra virgin olive oil, whisking constantly until dressing is thick, opaque, and until the desired amount of dressing is present.
- Chop 2 hearts of romaine lettuce and add to mixing bowl.
- Grind parmesan cheese into mixing bowl.
- Grind desired amount of fresh cracked black pepper to mixing bowl.
- Squeeze half a lemon into mixing bowl(squeeze onto plate to remove seeds).
- Gently toss salad and plate.
- Add more grated parmesan and cracked pepper to salad as desired.
- Place a large skillet over high heat.
- Add 1/2 stick of butter to skillet until it melts.
- Add 1/2 lb of peeled shrimp with tail removed.
- Add blackened or other seasoning.
- Cook for approximately 5 minutes or until shrimp are full cooked.
- Place shrimp ontop of salad and enjoy.
This salad makes me want to marry you. ~ My Wife