Restaurant-style Caesar Salad (no raw egg or anchovies)

I don’t know about you, but personally I have a hard time eating raw egg. I know, it’s delicious and if you eat at a quality place it likely won’t cause salmonella, but still…

The problem is, Caesar salad is one of my favorite salads. Something about the perfect combination of crisp, refreshing lettuce, golden croutons, and a rich dressing that ties everything together makes it the ultimate dish; one that I could truly eat every day. But Caesar dressing contains fresh egg yolk, and therein lies my issue.

In fancy, high-quality restaurants, I’ll sometimes turn a blind eye and taste the salad, but I often prefer the simpler version that doesn’t contain raw egg yolk, and usually doesn’t have anchovies either.

The version before you is everything I love about this dressing: no yolks or anchovies, just finely grated Parmesan, which adds the bite and umami in place of the anchovies, and mayonnaise to enrich and thicken instead of the yolk.

I promise you, that if you use good ingredients for this dressing, your guests will be full of compliments. And trust me, make a double batch, that way you can throw it together in a minute and a half. Serve with or without chicken.

Caesar Salad

Print

Serves: 5 Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 10 minutes 10 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

For the dressing (enough for about 5 salads):

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 2 peeled garlic cloves, you can also use garlic powder or omit altogether
• 1 teaspoon plain Dijon mustard
• 4 heaping tablespoons high-quality mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup (30 grams) finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the salad:

• Lettuce hearts, as small as possible and light green in color
• 2-3 slices challah/bread/roll or 1/3 baguette or ciabatta - not sliced ​​supermarket bread
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1/3 cup (30 grams) shaved Parmesan cheese - for serving

Instructions

- Place all the dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix for 5 minutes until smooth (you can also mix by hand in a bowl but make sure to mince the garlic if you do). If you like a thicker sauce, add more finely grated Parmesan. Store the dressing in a tightly sealed glass jar in the refrigerator.

-Tear the bread into bite-sized pieces. Wash the lettuce and dry well, otherwise the dressing won't coat the leaves.

- Heat the olive oil in a pan and toast the bread slices until lightly golden brown (I like to mix the oil with the bread pieces in a bowl and then roast in a pan or oven at 400F/200C degrees for 10 minutes). Season with salt and pepper.

- All of the above steps can be prepared in advance and kept aside.

- Before serving: Place the lettuce in a large bowl, either whole or torn in half, not chopped.

- Sprinkle with the croutons, add 3-4 tablespoons of the dressing and mix. Dot with Parmesan slivers (you can carve from a larger block using a vegetable peeler) or sprinkle with finely grated. Serve immediately.

Caesar Salad

Notes

- You can add chicken strips, just sear the chicken breast in a pan with a little olive oil and salt. If you are serving the salad with chicken and don't want Parmesan, you can omit it or replace it with brewer's yeast.

- Instead of Parmesan, you can use Pecorino.

- If you want anchovies, you can add 2 small fillets in with the other dressing ingredients and blend.

- Want a lower calorie count? Use light mayonnaise (preferably high-quality) and omit the canola oil.

- You can also add cherry tomato halves and/or very thin slices of red onion.

- You know I'm all for shortcuts and substitutions, but please don't use sliced ​​bread from the supermarket here. These croutons pack beauty and flavor with small, sharp edges that char in the pan and then lend different textures. Besides, you’ll never get the crust on uniform slices from the supermarket that you would from hand-torn, preferably stale, bread that has already lost moisture.

- Yes, you can use ready-made croutons from the supermarket.