This Caesar salad recipe hits every note that a great one should; it's super seasoned, lemony, punchy, and way more delicious than any other salad. If you're looking for the best version of a Caesar, I've got 2 recipes that are perfect for you. One is classic and includes the egg yolk, it's more work, but it is delicious. The other is a little lazier, as it uses mayo as a base. It's still delicious, and it involves way less work. Pick one and run with it.
Classic Dressing Recipe
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dijon
1 Egg yolk
1 anchovy
lemon juice from half lemon
Dash of worchestershire
Salt
1/4 cup neutral oil (up to 1/2 cup)
Grated parmesan
Tons of cracked pepper
2 heads of romaine
Easy Dressing Recipe
1 clove garlic
1 anchovy
1 tbsp mayo
1 tsp dijon
Lemon juice from half lemon juice
Dash of worchestershire
1/4 cup neutral oil (up to 1/2 cup)
Grated parmesan
Tons of cracked pepper
2 heads of romaine
Chicken Marinade
1 lb thinly sliced chicken breast
Juice from half a lemon
1 tbsp of mayo
Salt, Pepper garlic powder, dried italian herbs
Croutons
2 slices of artisan crusty bread
2 tbsp olive oil
Bake at 425 then toss in more olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and parm
Step 1: Marinate the Chicken
In a container that can go into the fridge, add a package of thinly slice chicken breast. I like to salt each piece as I put them in just to make sure they get the correct amount of seasoning. Squeeze in about a tablespoon of mayo, kewpie is nice here because it’s richer and more seasoned than standard mayo. Add in garlic powder, Italian herbs, the juice of half a lemon and cracked black pepper. Give this a good mix to make sure the seasoning coats each piece. Cover this and place it in the fridge while we work on the dressing.
Step 2: Make your dressing (pick either classic or lazy)
Classic Dressing
The traditional recipe is an emulsion made with raw egg yolk and oil, essentially creating a mayo. To a large bowl, grate 1 clove of garlic and add in one whole anchovy. Smash them together with a fork until you can't see any pieces of anchovy. Add in 1 tsp of Dijon mustard for both flavor and as an aid to creating our emulsion. Add in 1 egg yolk and mix that in as well. At this point, we can switch to our whisk and squeeze in the juice from half a lemon. Some people don’t like Worcestershire sauce in their dressing, but I like a few dashes of it. Season this with a small pinch of salt.
Take your vegetable oil and begin slowly dripping it into the bowl while whisking. At the start, I like to literally do 1 drip at a time. The more oil that gets correctly incorporated, the faster we can begin to drizzle. You’re looking for there to be no visible streaks of oil when you add more. Continue working slow until you’ve added about as much oil as there is other ingredients, at that point, you can pick up the pace.
As you get towards the final amount of oil, you can begin to decide on the texture you’d like. If you want it super thick and creamy, continue adding up to a total of half a cup of oil. If you want it a little runnier, stop when you reach the desired texture. For me, I like it super creamy, but not as thick as a mayo, I want it to able to just drip off a spoon. Season this with a ton of cracked black pepper and a ton of grated parm. The final taste should be punchy, acidic, salty, and peppery. Super super delicious. I’ll just set this whole thing in the fridge while I prep everything else.
Step 2: Make your dressing
Lazy Dressing
The lazier version starts with mayo because that is an already set emulsion that can carry us to the end result much faster. In a large bowl, grate in 1 clove of garlic and add in one anchovy. Smash the anchovy into the garlic with a fork to form a paste and mix in 1 tbsp of kewpie mayo along with 1 tsp of Dijon. Add in the juice of half a lemon, a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a pinch of salt. From there, you can aggressively add in a fourth of a cup of vegetable oil, upwards to a half a cup if you want a thicker dressing. Because the emulsion is already formed in the mayo, you don’t really have to worry about going slow, simply make sure the oil gets incorporated. Season this with tons of cracked pepper and tons of parm and you’re good to go. This tastes almost no different than the version that took 3 times as long to make, so it’s definitely worth going this route.
Step 3: Make croutons
Croutons are easy, simply dice a couple of slices of a country loaf and toss in olive oil. Roast these at 425 for roughly 8-10 minutes or until they are beautifully browned and crunchy. Once browned, set them in a bowl and toss with salt, garlic powder, pepper, more olive oil and a grating of fresh parm. These are stunningly crunchy and totally better than any pre bagged croutons.
Step 4: Chop and wash romaine
Either dressing is enough to coat two hearts of romaine, so chop that into bite size pieces. Be sure to wash it with cold water and then spin it dry if you have a salad spinner. The drier the lettuce, the better the dressing will cling to it. Keep this cold so it stays crunchy.
Step 5: Cook chicken
I chose thin chicken for this, because it’s a lot harder to properly cook thick chicken breasts on the stove. People tend to shy away from using stainless steel pans because they worry about stickage, but here’s how you can prevent that. Let your pan truly preheat, you need it to be quite hot, so let it sit over medium high for a few minutes. You can turn the heat down to medium once it’s sat there for a few minutes. You don’t have to cook the chicken over medium high, but you need to make sure the pan is hot when you add in the oil. The oil should barely smoke when you put it in the pan, and once you do, get your chicken in right after it.
Sear this on the first side until it’s well browned and you can see a little bit of the pink chicken turning opaque, then give it a flip. Usually 2:30-3:00 minutes is good on this first side. Add a little more oil if you need it and cook this side for another 2:00-3:00 minutes. Usually for pieces this thin at this heat, 5:00-6:00 minutes of cooking is enough to be sure they are no longer pink, but also not overcooked. Continue working through your chicken in batches until they're all beautifully cooked. It’s easy, delicious, and super useful to master. Let those pieces rest for a few minutes and then dice them into bite size pieces.
Step 6: Dress Salad
To properly dress a salad, make sure the dressing is in the bowl first, and then top it with the lettuce. Use a clean hand or a pair of tongs to coat every single piece in that beautiful dressing. Top it with the croutons, the chicken and then shave on some nice pieces of parm. I like to serve it with a slice of lemon and a little more cracked pepper. This is perfectly seasoned, totally crave-able and super punchy from the anchovy and garlic.
Cheers!
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