Caesar salad
by
A modern-day classic, Caesar salad is beloved thanks to its crunchy texture and zingy, umami-rich dressing. Making your own from scratch is far better than buying a ready-made dressing and will showcase exactly why this salad is so popular. See Anna's other lettuce recipes here.
Ingredients
Croutons
- 150g of bread, slightly stale, about a day old (white or sourdough)
- 3 tbsp of olive oil
Salad
- romaine lettuce , 2 large or 3 medium heads
- 1/2 tbsp of red wine vinegar
- 80ml of olive oil, good quality
- 4 anchovy fillets , chopped
- 1/2 garlic clove , chopped
- 1 large egg , fridge cold, beaten (the temperature ‘cold’ is specified in the Zuni recipe, though I’ve never quite understood the reason for this – sometimes you just do as you're told!)
- 45g of Parmesan , grated
- 1 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
Equipment
- Microplane
- Pestle and mortar
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 175°C/gas mark 3
2
Remove the crusts from the bread and tear into large, misshapen shards, roughly the size of a large cotton bud but wonkier in appearance
3
Toss the bread in the 3 tablespoons of oil, season with a pinch of salt and place on a tray in the oven. Check after 10 minutes and give the pieces a turn. Return for a further 5–10 minutes until the croutons are a deep gold colour. Allow to cool
4
Remove the tougher outer leaves of the lettuce and discard (or use in my lettuce soup recipe). Unravel the rest of the lettuce, keeping the leaves whole, washing and drying each one. It is very important that the leaves are completely dry before assembling the salad, otherwise you’ll be left with a diluted and uninspiring dish
5
In a pestle and mortar, pound the garlic to a paste. Add the anchovies and pound not quite to a smooth paste (the odd small piece of anchovy is a nice thing to come across in the salad). Add the lemon juice and vinegar and stir to incorporate
6
Add 30g of the cheese, the beaten egg and plenty of black pepper. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, mixing constantly. The resulting dressing should be a slightly strange consistency – not totally emulsified but still all holding together
7
Taste the dressing both on its own and with a salad leaf to check the balance. Add more lemon juice if you feel it needs more zing. As yet no salt has been added as the anchovies and Parmesan are salty, but judge whether it needs an extra bit of seasoning
8
Place your lettuce and croutons in a large bowl and pour over enough dressing to coat each leaf and crouton. Make sure the dressing is well distributed and each leaf is glossy and glazed with it
9
To serve, start with the larger leaves on the bottom of the plate, building the salad up like a pyrmaid with the smallest, most tender leaves on top and the croutons spread throughout. Generously grate the remaining parmesan on top of the salad. Use the fine side of the grater or better still a microplane to create delicate curls of cheese
Discover more:
Go to Comments
Caesar salad
