Caesar Salad

Name: Caesar Salad
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 1 unit romaine lettuce (whole leaves, washed and dried); 3 slice bread, day-old (cut in 3/4-inch cubes); 2 tbsp olive oil (for the croutons); 1 unit egg (yolk, coddled); 3 unit anchovy (fillets, mashed); 1 clove garlic (minced); 1 tbsp lemon (juice); ½ tsp dijon mustard; ½ tsp worcestershire sauce; 5 tbsp olive oil (for the dressing); ⅓ cup parmesan (finely grated); ¼ tsp black pepper (coarsely ground); ¼ tsp salt

Vegetables & Salads · American

13 ingredients · 25 minutes · 2 servings

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685kcal17.6g protein56.8g fat28.8g carbs~$2.22/ serving*

Contains gluten, dairy, egg, fish

Restrictions

Containsgluten · dairy · egg · fishIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Diets

Pescatarian · without oneNo porkNo alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

1 unit	romaine lettuce (whole leaves, washed and dried)
3 slice	bread, day-old (cut in 3/4-inch cubes)
2 tbsp	olive oil (for the croutons)
1 unit	egg (yolk, coddled)
3 unit	anchovy (fillets, mashed)
1 clove	garlic (minced)
1 tbsp	lemon (juice)
½ tsp	dijon mustard
½ tsp	worcestershire sauce
5 tbsp	olive oil (for the dressing)
⅓ cup	parmesan (finely grated)
¼ tsp	black pepper (coarsely ground)
¼ tsp	salt

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

2 tbsp	parmesan (shaved, to finish)
1 clove	garlic (halved, rubbed on the bread)
6 oz	chicken breast (grilled, sliced)
½ tsp	lemon (zest)

Steps

Prep5 min
cold, bone dry
romaine separated into whole leaves, washed and dried until no water beads on them — dressing is an oil emulsion and will not cling to a wet leaf, it slides off and pools at the bottom of the bowl
Bake12 min
375°F / 190°C, single layer
- bread
bread cubes tossed with 2 tbsp olive oil, spread so no cube touches another; crowded cubes trap their own steam and go leathery instead of brittle. Pull them when the edges are gold and the centers still have a little chew
Poach1 min
boiling water, then straight into cold
- egg
whole egg lowered in for 60 seconds, then cooled and cracked — the white turns milky and the yolk stays fluid. This is a food-safety and viscosity step, not a cooking step: warmed yolk emulsifies faster than fridge-cold yolk
Mash2 min
bowl or mortar
- anchovy
- garlic
anchovy fillets + garlic + salt worked into a smooth paste; the salt acts as an abrasive and the fillets dissolve completely, which is what keeps the finished dressing savory rather than fishy in bites
Whisk1 min
vigorous
- lemon
- dijon mustard
+ coddled egg yolk + lemon juice + dijon + worcestershire, until the base is uniform and slightly pale. The mustard and yolk together carry the lecithin load; skipping the mustard is the usual reason a Caesar breaks
Emulsify3 min
drop by drop, then a thin stream
+ 5 tbsp olive oil, added slowly enough that the bowl never looks oily — dump it and the droplets coalesce faster than the yolk can coat them, and you get a broken slick. If it does break, whisk it back into a fresh half-yolk
Fold1 min
off the whisk
- parmesan
- black pepper
+ grated parmesan + black pepper = dressing; the cheese thickens it and adds salt, so taste before adding more of either
Mix2 min
serve immediately
romaine tossed with dressing by hand until every leaf is coated but none is sitting in a puddle, then + croutons + shaved parmesan. Salt from the cheese and anchovy starts drawing water out of the leaves on contact, so a dressed Caesar has about ten minutes before it wilts