While this isn’t your old school Caesar salad made tableside at a nice restaurant type of recipe, the homemade dressing does make it special.
Caesar Salad is the creation of Italian immigrant, Caesar Cardini. He moved from San Diego to just over the border in Tijuana, Mexico to avoid Prohibition. In 1924, a rush of Americans visited his restaurant for the 4th of July and he created this salad with ingredients he had on hand to feed them.
We long associate Caesar Salad with anchovies (one of my favorite parts) but the original didn’t contain anchovies. He did use a small amount of Worcestershire sauce which contains anchovies (did you know that?). He also served whole romaine leaves as he originally intended it to be finger food.
This is a variation on a recipe from David Rosengarten’s The Dean & Deluca Cookbook (1996). The primary ‘variation’ is that I used less garlic than Rosengarten recommended and it was still pretty garlicy. I also made it in a small food processor. It’s easier to ensure emulsification (when the liquid and oil come together) this way but you can also make it by hand with a whisk and a slow pour of the olive oil. No matter which method you select, the bright lemon and savory garlic flavors really shine through.
This recipe calls for a 30 second boil of the egg – just enough to coddle it. That’s enough to pasteurize it (and kill any harmful bacteria) while still keeping it runny. The cooking of the egg also helps ensure proper emulsification. Essentially you’re making a variation of a homemade mayonnaise. If you’re not worried about your eggs, you can skip this step (and the dressing will still emulsify).
If you’re making homemade dressing, please also make homemade croutons. I recommend Riegl Palate’s very easy Croutons (Gluten-Free) which can be made with regular or gluten-free bread. There’s enough garlic in this salad dressing that you can skip the garlic in the croutons if you like. If you have a favorite crouton recipe, please feel free to use it.
I prepared this salad for dinner at our friends, Lauren and Chris M’s house. Lauren was making Italian food and asked for a salad that would go with it. While this salad was born in Mexico, its roots (olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, garlic and lemon) are in Italy.
| Caesar Salad | Print |
- 1 large egg
- 2 medium garlic cloves, peeled
- 5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 12 ounces romaine lettuce, cleaned and chopped
- 2 cups homemade croutons (see Notes)
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon) and freshly ground black pepper
- Fill a small pot with water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat.
- In a small food processor, pulse garlic until it is finely minced.
- Add lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and fine sea salt.
- Place the egg in the boiling water and boil for 30 seconds.
- Remove the egg and crack it into the food processor. Pulse to combine.
- While the food processor is running, add the olive oil in a slow steady stream until emulsified.
- Taste add more lemon juice and/or salt if needed.
- Transfer to a container and refrigerate until needed. Dressing will last 3 days.
- When ready to serve the salad, add lettuce to a salad bowl.
- Add dressing and toss so that lettuce is lightly coated. You will likely have some dressing leftover.
- Toss in croutons.
- Using a microplane, grate Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese over the dressed salad and toss.
- Season with flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
- Serve within 30 minutes of dressing.
* You can also prepare this without a food processor. You can make it by hand with a whisk and a slow pour of the olive oil.
Source: Adapted from David Rosengarten with Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca’s The Dean & Deluca Cookbook (1996).
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