03/01/2019

Caesar Salad & Chicken Caesar Salad

Name: Caesar Salad & Chicken Caesar Salad
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 slice good crusty bread e.g. sourdough (cut into 1-2 cm cubes); 1-2 cloves garlic (finely grated or chopped); black pepper (to taste); 1 tbsp olive oil (or oil from the tin of anchovies) (see below); 75 g mayonnaise; 75 g natural yogurt; 1 small tin anchovies in olive oil (approx 30g of anchovies when drained) (drained & roughly chopped, oil reserved); 1-2 cloves garlic (finely grated or chopped); 25 g Parmesan cheese (finely grated); black pepper (to taste); 1 head Romaine lettuce (torn into large pieces); 1 third of a large cucumber (cut lengthways, then sliced); 1 small onion, yellow or red (halved then sliced thinly); 2 tbsp chopped herbs e.g. parsley, chives; 30 g white anchovies, drained (optional); 20 g Parmesan cheese, shaved (use a potato peeler to shave the Parmesan); 3 rashers smoked streaky bacon or pancetta (cooked until crisp, then broken into pieces or crumbled); 2 chicken breasts, freshly cooked & rested (see Recipe Notes for alternative)

I don’t claim authenticity for my version of Caesar Salad. But if you love robust flavours, it tastes divine.

My quick, delicious version of the dressing combines mayo with plain yogurt to lighten it. Flavoured with anchovy, garlic, and Parmesan, it’s a knockout over lettuce and crunchy croutons.

Or take it to the next level with smoky bacon and tender chicken for a great main course.

Jump to Recipe

CLASSIC CAESAR SALAD?

As with many well known dishes, there’s some debate as to what constitutes a ‘classic’ Caesar salad. What’s generally agreed (sort of) is that it was created in the 1920s by chef Caesar Cardini (or was it one of his staff?) in San Diego (or was it Tijuana?). Whatever the truth, the constants are romaine lettuce, croutons and Parmesan cheese in an egg-based garlicky dressing.

While most modern versions of the dressing contain anchovy (and mine has lots), in the original this was apparently provided in the form of Worcestershire sauce.

But I’m not really interested in what’s ‘correct’. What I want is a good, strong creamy dressing anointing crunchy leaves and croutons. From that base, you can add more lovely things to make a great main course salad.

MY CAESAR SALAD DRESSING

I think the secret of a good Caesar Salad is its dressing. I like the leaves to be well coated and with a good drizzle over the top as well. It also doesn’t hurt to have some extra dressing on the side; either to dunk some bits of chicken in (of which, more later) or simply to save for another day. I find the dressing is fine in a jar in the fridge for a couple of days.

The base of my dressing is roughly equal amounts of mayonnaise and plain, full fat yogurt. I’m afraid I’m not in the habit of regularly making mayo from scratch, so mine comes from a jar. However, I do think mayonnaise-only dressings can be a bit cloying, so the yogurt is there to lighten it up.

The other ingredients in my Caesar Salad dressing are: tinned anchovies plus a little of their oil, garlic, Parmesan cheese and black pepper. I’ve given approximate quantities for these in the detailed recipe at the end of the post, but to get the dressing to your liking, you really need to keep tasting and adjusting. I’d particularly recommend starting off with smaller amounts of anchovy and garlic and see how you go.

The dressing is dead simple to make using a stick blender, or a food processor if you prefer. I just put the ingredients in a suitable vessel and get whizzing away. If you prefer a thinner dressing, add a few drops of water or milk and blend again.

THE GREEN STUFF

Traditionally, the vegetable matter in a Caesar Salad is romaine lettuce only. Don’t shred it or the lettuce will get lost in the dressing. Simply tear into large, rough pieces. But I want more interest and crunch, so I add raw onion and sliced cucumber too. I’m not after a mixed salad though, so tomatoes, peppers and whatnot are a no-no for me.

However, I think salad leaves without flecks of green herbs always look a little nude, so I’ll toss in freshly chopped parsley. If I have chives then I’ll snip some of those in too.

ACCOMPANIMENTS & VARIATIONS

I think it’s all the personal touches and additions that make the very best Caesar Salad. Here’s my favourites, but experiment to find your perfect combination.

CROUTONS

In my book, crunchy croutons are indispensable to a good Caesar Salad, providing contrasting texture as well as flavour. They’re simple to make and are great for using up slightly stale bread. I’ve given instructions in the recipe at the end of the post, but here’s one tip: if you’ve some of the oil left from the tin of anchovies, use that to make your croutons especially delicious.

BACON

I’m sure bacon has absolutely nothing to do with the original Caesar Salad, but who cares? It’s a popular addition, and no wonder. For me, a few nuggets of fried, smoky and salty bacon hidden within and scattered over the salad add much to its appeal.

I like the bacon fried until very crispy or, in the words of the great Alan Partridge (although he was referring to sausages) “burnt to a crisp … so that they can only be identified by reference to their dental records”. You can leave the bacon in large pieces if you want, but I crumble it and use almost as a seasoning. If you want to gussy things up a bit, slices of crispy pancetta are a good alternative.

ANCHOVIES

While I think the brown, salty anchovies sold in tins and jars are perfect for the dressing, I’m not a fan of them actually in the salad. Much better for this are so-called white anchovies. These are milder tasting as they’ve only been briefly salted before marinating in oil and vinegar.

You can find white anchovies at deli counters, vacuum packed in chiller cabinets or buy online. If I don’t have any, then I’d rather do without anchovies in the salad itself.

PARMESAN SHAVINGS

I don’t know why, but it always seems preferable to have shavings of Parmesan cheese, rather than grated, on a salad. You don’t need any fancy equipment, just drag a potato peeler across the block of cheese and that’s it.

CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD

Chicken Caesar is one of the widely accepted variations on the classic and I think it’s what turns this into a main course salad. Nine times out of ten, if we’re eating Caesar Salad then we’ll have chicken on it or with it. There’s something about the salty, rich, slightly fishy dressing that goes so well with chicken. If you think that sounds strange, then consider the classic Italian dish of vitello tonnato which is basically veal served with a cold tuna, anchovy, garlic mayonnaise-type sauce.

For me, the best type of Chicken Caesar Salad starts with one plump, juicy free-range chicken breast per person, preferably skin-on. I brown them well in the fat I used to cook the smoky bacon and then finish them off in the oven. After resting but still a little warm, the chicken is sublime sliced over the top of the salad. A drizzle of that powerful dressing and crumbled bacon over the top of a moist, crispy-skinned chicken breast is heavenly.

There’s another way of eating chicken with Caesar Salad which has become a bit of a tradition with us for our Christmas Eve dinner. Perhaps a little tired after all the preparations, and with work put aside for a few days, we want some easy but fabulous comfort food to kick off the festivities.

Alongside the salad, we serve a dish of crisp-roasted chicken wings plus a little bowl of extra Caesar dressing. Pulling off morsels of meat and crackly skin from the wings, dipping them into the rich sauce and popping them in your mouth is superb. Pausing between each wing, we eat mouthfuls of the glorious dressed green salad with its crunchy croutons.

ASPARAGUS

During the short British asparagus season, we try to cram some into just about every dinner. One of my favourites is Chicken Caesar Salad with asparagus. You can just simply boil, drain and drape the grassy stems over the salad. Even better though, I like to give the asparagus a quick charring first. All you do is put a splash of olive oil in a hot griddle pan then add the lightly boiled spears. Char for a few minutes, turning them so they catch a little all over.

MAKE YOUR OWN CLASSIC

However you eat your Caesar Salad, whether as a main course or alongside chicken, burgers or steak, make sure you give it plenty of gutsy flavour.

If you really don’t like anchovies, try adding Worcestershire sauce to give the dressing punch. And don’t be mean with the garlic and Parmesan either.

My ideal Caesar Salad is full-flavoured and powerful, the star of the show and not some namby-pamby salad afterthought. Proceed with the recipe on that basis, and your classic Caesar Salad should be a knockout.