Caesar Salad

From Ars Cookbook

Submitted by aeberbach

Amazing with a barbecued steak, garlic bread and a fine Pinot Noir or Shiraz. 100% different from what you find in a "Caesar Salad Kit".

Ingredients

• 1 or 2 Cos Lettuces
• 8-10 flat anchovies
• 5 cloves of garlic
• two egg yolks
• old bread to make croutons, 2-day-old sourdough is ideal (or buy some premade croutons)
• Salted butter - yellow European style, not white butter.
• Parmesan, Grana Padano or Reggiano
• Malt vinegar
• Olive oil
• Tabasco Sauce
• Worcestershire Sauce

Directions

1. Peparation

1. Separate leaves of lettuce and wash. Dry with a salad spinner if available. Place in your largest salad bowl in the refrigerator while you make the rest of the salad.

2. Croutons

1. Cut bread into cubes, roughly 1cm a side - put breadcrumbs on your cutting board aside for use in the dressing (step 2).
2. Chop four cloves of garlic
3. Gently fry garlic in a pan with plenty of butter. Add bread and toss in pan over low heat until golden brown. This should take a while, as you are not just frying but drying out the croutons. When crunchy they are right. Be careful not to burn them.

3. Dressing

1. Crush one clove of garlic in a bowl and add a pinch of salt.
2. Add one flat anchovy and grind with the back of a spoon to make garlic and anchovy paste.
3. Throw in breadcrumbs from step 1 and grind together.
4. Add two egg yolks and mix.
5. Add Tabasco sauce and Worcestershire sauce to taste, several good shakes from each bottle.
6. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and stir until blended.
7. Add malt vinegar to taste. More vinegar means less heat but more acid.

4. Assembly

1. Chop remaining anchovies into 2cm-long pieces
2. Grate enough parmesan to make about three cups
3. Take lettuce from refrigerator, dump out of bowl.
4. Make layers in bowl by adding salad, dressing (apply with tablespoon), croutons, anchovy bits and parmesan until all ingredients are finished.

Variations:

1. Bacon is in the traditional recipe, I leave it out due to cooking for a vegetarian most of the time - if you like it, add the bacon at the assembly stage. DO NOT use cheap fatty bacon, spam, pre-cooked "bacon bits" or similar because you will taste the difference.
2. Quail eggs are another great addition, often added after the salad has been plated, soft-boiled. Hen's eggs are fine too but best to quarter them since they are much larger.
3. If you like the feeling of eating in bad family restaurants, add grilled chicken breast with bottled "cajun spices" shaken over it.