The Mercedes of salads: a simple, elegant and delectable Caesar
The Mercedes of salads: a simple, elegant and delectable Caesar salad recipeTo my way of thinking, the Caesar salad is unsurpassed among salads. While you can serve it as a first course, this salad is so superior, it deserves the place of honor as a main dish. This is a dish you can eat slowly, accompanied by a fine glass of Chardonnay, feeling satisfied and happy at the end of your meal, without having to loosen your belt or take a nap, or both! Here's a Caesar salad recipe that's so simple, you don't need to know a thing about cooking to enjoy this heavenly treat.
With just six ingredients, and an optional seventh, you can prepare this Caesar salad recipe in fifteen minutes, including cleaning the lettuce. So, after a tough day of work, this is the perfect dinner to put all your cares to rest.
While being extremely simple to prepare, our Caesar salad recipe requires that you use the freshest and highest quality ingredients available. Most classic Italian recipes rely on simplicity, freshness and quality, with spectacular results. Here are step-by-step instructions to a salad to die for! Fortunately, all of the required ingredients are readily available at your local supermarket.
This Caesar salad recipe is best prepared in individual servings. I recommend the large individual wooden salad bowl. Peel a fresh clove of garlic and rub it all over the salad bowl.
Proceed with hearts of Romaine, a dark green, crispy lettuce. You can shorten the time of preparation by purchasing a bag of cleaned and trimmed hearts of Romaine. Sift through the bags and choose the one with the 'sell by' date furthest in the future. Break the lettuce into a bit larger than bite-sized chunks and make your salad bed.
Sprinkle the bed of lettuce with a quantity of garlic croutons. You can use a commercial product if you wish. Alternatively, you can use squares of French bread, brushed with garlic and olive oil, broiled ahead of time, for the most authentic and superior taste.
A chunk of Italian Parmesan cheese, preferably aged for 6-9 months is next. Use a cheese grater to produce shavings in a quantity to your taste. (More is better!) Quality Parmesan is integral to the successfully delectable Caesar salad recipe!
For each dinner-sized salad serving, chop about a tablespoon full of anchovies, packed in olive oil. Sprinkle this over your salad.
The last ingredient in our Caesar salad recipe is optional, but if you enjoy the piquancy of Parmesan and anchovies, give this ingredient a shot. You'll find Nicoise olives in the upscale delis. Add two or three whole Nicoise olives to your salad.
As for Caesar salad dressing, here I'll admit to copping out. Making your own dressing takes more time than making the salad. With all of the commercial dressings on the supermarket shelf, you've got a number of high quality dressings to choose from that will do your Caesar salad recipe justice.
You're ready to eat a memorable meal. As for the beverage, Chardonnay aged in oak barrels is the perfect complement. To your health! Truly a meal made in Heaven!
