The Original Caesar salad

Italian Salad

The classic, the original. Perhaps more subtle than what you are accustomed to.

Ingredients

  • garlic flavored olive oil - prepare at one day ahead:
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • croutons:
  • 1 cup French bread croutons
  • grated parmesan cheese
  • greens:
  • 3 medium heads romaine - washed and chilled
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons wine vinegar
  • juice of one lemon
  • 1 or 2 one minute coddled eggs (*)
  • freshly ground pepper
  • salt
  • dash of Worcestershire sauce
  • 5 to 6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
  • whole anchovies for garnish (optional)

Directions

For garlic oil, prepare one day (ideally, one week) ahead. Slice cloves of garlic lengthwise in quarters and let stand in olive oil.

Croutons:
Preheat oven to 225 F. Cube bread and spread out on a cookie sheet. Pour small amount of garlic-flavored oil over cubes. Dry in oven for 2 hours. Sprinkle croutons with grated Parmesan cheese. Store in jar and refrigerate to keep crisp.

Romaine: wash 24 hours ahead if possible. Dry and refrigerate.

To prepare salad, break romaine leaves in 2 to 3 inch widths. At the last minute before serving, place romaine in a chilled salad bowl. Drizzle about 1/3 cup garlic-flavored oil over greens, then vinegar, then lemon juice. Add eggs. Sprinkle with fresh pepper. Season with salt and dash of Worcestershire. Sprinkle with cheese. Toss several times.


Six large servings. (*) In my kitchen, raw eggs are out. Coddling means to immerse the eggs in boiling water a minute or two to slightly cook (or coddle) them. Because of salmonella, even coddled eggs may be of some concern.

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Submitted 6/13/05.
Source: Internet/Baker Boulanger
Submitted By: Marlen
matchlessm@aol.com
The Original Caesar salad