Description
My all-time favorite homemade Caesar Salad recipe! This recipe makes a big batch, so feel free to halve it if needed.
Ingredients
Caesar Salad Ingredients:
- 3 hearts of Romaine lettuce (20 ounces) or little gems, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup shaved or grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish
- freshly-cracked black pepper
Homemade Croutons Ingredients:
- 3 cups of bite-sized pieces (cut or torn into 3/4-inch cubes) crusty bread
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
Caesar Dressing Ingredients:
- 5 anchovy fillets*, drained
- 2 small garlic cloves
- 2 large egg yolks*
- 1/3 cup (3/4 ounce) freshly-grated Parmesan
- 2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon each fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Make the homemade croutons. Heat oven to 375°F. Drizzle the olive oil evenly over the bread crumbs on a baking sheet, then toss until the bread is evenly coated in the oil. Spread the bread out in an even layer, then season generously with salt and pepper. Bake for 15-20 minutes until crispy.
- Make the Caesar dressing. Add the anchovy filets, garlic, egg yolks, Parmesan, lemon juice, Dijon, sea salt and black pepper to a blender. Purée for 5 seconds, or until combined. Then, while the blender is still running, remove the small cap from the blender lid and gradually stream in the olive oil until the dressing is completely smooth. Add a few tablespoons of water, as needed, until the dressing achieves your desired consistency. (I prefer mine to be about the consistency of heavy cream.) Then taste and add extra salt and/or black pepper, if needed.
- Toss the salad. In a large mixing bowl, combine the lettuce, homemade croutons, and Parmesan. Drizzle evenly with your desired amount of dressing, then toss until combined.
- Serve. Serve immediately garnished with extra Parmesan and freshly-cracked black pepper.
Notes
Anchovies: Please feel free to use more or less anchovies to taste. When shopping for anchovies, look for the canned fish aisle for small jars or tins of anchovies packed in oil. Alternately, you can use anchovy paste (1/2 teaspoon = 1 anchovy, more or less), but to be honest, I much prefer the flavor of the whole anchovy filets in this recipe.
Raw eggs: Raw egg yolks are traditionally used in Caesar dressing. But they do carry the risk of salmonella, so you consume them at your own risk. If you prefer not to use raw eggs in this recipe, you are welcome to use pasteurized egg yolks instead. Or you can substitute 1 tablespoon of mayo for each yolk.
Dressing alternatives: If you do not own a traditional blender, see details here for how to make this dressing either with an immersion (hand) blender, or how to make it 100% by hand.
