caesar salad

leah | 03.15.2020

my in-laws asked us to get them romaine lettuce while we were out doing our last grocery run but turns out they already had lettuce so hey, free lettuce. anyway, it's the ides of march aka national caesar salad day.

recipe:

• croutons
  cut up some bread, we used 1/3 loaf of a homemade boule. toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and whatever other seasonings. italian seasoning + harissa seasoning are our go-tos. bake at 375 until golden and crisp on the outside.
• dressing
  finely mince a couple cloves of garlic, toss with salt, then use the side of a knife to crush it into a paste. mortar and pestle is a good choice here. i like a really pungent, almost eye-watering garlic flavor here, hence the aggressive crushing. mince/crush in a couple of anchovy filets (alternatively, add a few dashes fish sauce later). lemon juice is the classic souring agent for caesar salad but my house caesar dressing uses a few slices of preserved salted lemons, minced/crushed in with the other stuff. add a couple tbsp of mayo and a tsp of mustard, salt and pepper, and mix into a paste. the mayo helps build the emulsion without needing to mess with eggs. the garlic and mustard also function as emulsifiers. okay, now add in olive oil and whisk. i also add in white wine vinegar since the salted lemons aren't as sour as straight up lemon juice. season again with s&p if needed.
• lettuce
  wash and dry, a salad spinner is useful here. cut into salad size pieces.

toss everything together, preferably into the bowl of a salad spinner so it's one less thing to wash.