Saturday, November 1, 2008

World's Best Caesar Salad

I spent a few minutes on www.atthemeadow.com, which is a website for The Meadow, a store in Portland, Oregon that my friend Jessica came upon during a recent conference. It's a salt, chocolate and wine specialty store and restaurant that I plan to blog more about in a later post. Today I want to discuss Caesar salad.

I have been making and sharing my Uncle Paul's Caesar Dressing recipe for nearly 2 decades. It is always on the menu at our annual Christmas Eve dinner (last year we had 116 guests). I claim this recipe to be the best around, a fierce and garlicky run in with your palate. While browsing one of the 3 blogs located on The Meadow's site, I stumbled upon a post about the Hale Caesar Salad and his claim of it being the World's Best. As I disclaim on my blog homepage, I am not a chef, nor a culinary expert. I am, however, a "healthy" Italian who loves food nearly as much as her family.

My dressing has none of the requirements of Hale's with regards to quality of ingredients. This, I may have to rethink. Maybe I can take my Uncle Paul's recipe to the next level. I never gave thought to the quality, brand or type of ingredients, with the exception of the grated cheese. Maybe after seeing his recipe, I will. I was amazed at how similar our contents are, regardless of how different the execution. In fact, the only ingredient uncommon is the vinegar he uses.

I doubt I will use Hale's recipe in its entirety, but I do thank him for opening my mind to improving mine. Hale's recipe you can link to find, and here is mine (sorry, but I don't measure). Whichever you use, manga!

In blender, combine:
1 can flat anchovies in oil
3 heaping tablespoons good grated pecorino romano (no Kraft allowed)
1/4 cup olive oil
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
a few twists of ground black pepper
2-3 cloves of crushed garlic (no jarred garlic allowed)

In a bowl, mix one raw egg into the dressing using a fork. Toss with 1-2 heads of romaine lettuce and sprinkle with more grated cheese. Croutons and fresh sliced mushrooms are optional. To stretch the dressing into a larger batch, add more oil and, if desired, a second can of anchovies.

Let me know what you think!


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