Caesar Salad has always been one of my favorite salads. I remember watching the dressing being made fresh at a fine restaurant, next to our table, when I was a small child. Eaten alone, or with cold or hot chicken or salmon, it makes a great meal.
I learned to make Caesar dressing at home because I wanted to eat it more often, while avoiding the preservatives often added to store-bought dressings. I also much prefer the taste of lemon juice to white distilled vinegar.
When I’m at an Italian or Greek restaurant or pizza parlor, I have sometimes asked for crushed garlic, a wedge of lemon, olive oil and anchovies. Then I’ll use the parmesan cheese shaker on the table to make myself my own dressing on the spot, with no additives or distilled vinegar!
Perhaps the ingredients of anchovy and raw egg come as a surprise to some. Anchovies are little salty fish – they come in a tin or a glass jar – and they add a very distinctive taste which some love and others really don’t like at all.
The egg is needed to help the olive oil thicken, into a sort of white mayonnaise. I do not worry about getting salmonella from the raw egg. I buy as high-quality, fresh organic eggs as I can, if I don’t raise the laying hens myself. Good bacteria in the gut overcomes bad bacteria and people have eaten raw eggs for hundreds of years.
If you worry about salmonella, you can pasturize a raw egg in boiling water for a minute or so, to kill bad bacteria. I’ve forgotten the exact timing but basically, you don’t want to boil it until it turns into a soft-boiled egg, you just want to heat it up, to kill bacteria. Personally, I want the benefits of the raw egg, and I figure the freshly cut garlic will help kill bad bacteria, too.
Here’s what you’ll need for this Salad:
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1 head Romaine Lettuce, washed and broken into small pieces – I’ve also used finely chopped Bok Choy, Red Leaf or Green Leaf Lettuce, Napa Cabbage or even Mesclun (for a much less crisp salad but it is still delicious in flavor!)
And the simple, six-ingredients for my dressing recipe, used in the order listed:
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1 Raw Egg, beaten in a medium-sized bowl with high sides
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Juice and pith from one fresh Lemon
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4-6 cloves of fresh Garlic (not pre-chopped garlic from a jar!)
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1 cup Olive Oil – I usually use a high-quality greenish extra-virgin oil sold in greenish glass because so much olive oil sold in America is cut with other lesser-quality oils
The Olive Oil pictured is not a high quality oil and thus has a milder flavor. Extra-virgin, pure unheated olive oil is extremely good for the body – it’s slightly bitter taste is actually good for you.
Organic Olive Oil is really best, because otherwise you are probably eating the chemicals sprayed onto olive trees. I met a man in New Zealand who had a nerve disorder from working in an olive grove in Italy.
I remember going to Montreal for an International Food Festival once, and tasting about thirty different olive oils from all around the world! Spain had wonderful tasting oils. This tasting room was enlightening – I can picture it now. When you begin to realize how important the Olive Tree is to different countries and how many places press and preserve it…
The Olive Tree
In New Zealand I met a man who exported olive oil. I learned the trees can bear some fruit just a few years after being planted.
Another little known fact I read is Olive Trees produce their best fruit after they are eighty years old! So, in planting an olive grove, you would be preparing for your grandchildren.
Pretty amazing, olives. They symbolize wisdom, peace and a bunch of other really neat things!
I’ve gotten distracted, back to the dressing ingredient list:
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1 tin Flat Anchovies – rolled anchovies contain capers and these change the flavor
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1 cup Freshly grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese, I usually buy imported cheese unless domestic cheese can be found without Bovine Growth Hormone
Also include:
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1/4 teaspoon unrefined, unwashed Sea Salt
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Freshly grated Black pepper – ½ tsp or to taste – adds a very distinctive flavor
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Cayenne pepper – one pinch