Sasha's Kitchen: Caesar Salad (New Years Eve Dinner)

Caesar salads have long been one of my husband's favorite dishes. We both like Caesar salads so much that we chose to serve it at our wedding at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Before I learned to prepare my own Caesar dressing, others always told me about these wonderful Caesar dressings that they made and offered to share their recipes. However, I actually was never impressed, as these dressings were often too heavy on the anchovy flavor, not made properly (real Caesar dressing requires raw egg yolks), or were not creamy enough for my tastes.


I have worked for awhile to perfect my Caesar salad recipe using the proper mix of ingredients. When I first started making it, I would often have to make it twice before getting the dressing to the right consistency, because it did not emulsify properly. This was obviously frustrating, and I have since corrected this by being sure to add the ingredients in the proper order and mixing in steps. The end result should be a classic, creamy Caesar dressing. My husband and I chose to make this Caesar Salad recipe last night for our New Years Eve Dinner, which also consisted of Herb-Encrusted Rack of Lamb and Eggnog Tiramisu Trifles.
Dressing:
1 tsp anchovy paste
2 egg yolks
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T lemon juice
2 T water
½ cup canola oil
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce (use Lea & Perrins)

Salad
Bag of romaine lettuce
1 clove garlic
Grated parmesan cheese
Croutons

Smear the garlic over the inside of a salad bowl and put aside. To make the dressing, put the anchovies, egg yolks, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and water into a food processor (like a miniprep) and process for 30 seconds. Add the Canola Oil in stages, blending in between to emulsify. Stir in the parmesan cheese and the salt and pepper. At the end, add 1 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce and be sure to use the brand Lea & Perrins (which for years, I called Lea & Pepprins, until my husband corrected me!).

To make the salad, mix the dressing with the romaine lettuce and add to the bowl with the garlic. Top with croutons and parmesan cheese.

Sasha's Kitchen: Caesar Salad (New Years Eve Dinner)

Sasha's Kitchen: Caramelized Apple, Goat Cheese, Pecan Salad

I love making my own salad dressings. I can make a good Caesar salad (although the emulsification is a bit tricky with a creamy Caesar). But I am not an oil-and-vinegar kind of girl. I like unusual flavorful salad dressings. You can make a salad dressing with almost every kind of fruit - I've used strawberries, blueberries, oranges etc. One of my favorite salad recipes is one I developed as a variation of the "caramelized apple salad with blue cheese, black walnuts and spicy orange vinaigrette" in Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook. His version of this salad, which looks and tastes quite different from mine, is served at his restaurant Mesa Grill in Gramercy. They key to the dressing is a fruit juice reduction - the dressing uses orange juice in his salad, but requires that you boil away the juice for about 20-30 minutes until it is a thicker, stickier, reduced liquid.

Here's my adapted recipe for the caramelized apple salad that I love. This was our dinner tonight.

Spicy Tangerine Dressing (tangerine is much better than OJ - less acidic, as I discovered by mistake when I ran out of orange juice)

1/2 quart orange juice (reduce to 1/4 cup by heating on medium to medium high until thickened, about 20 minutes)
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T diced red onions
1 T ancho chile powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup canola oil (I prefer canola oil to olive oil in all of my dressings)
1 T honey

Then puree all of these in a blender to make the dressing. Add the olive oil slowly at the end and blend until emulsified.

Next peel 2 granny smith apples. Caramelize these apples by sauteing in about 1/4 cup of the dressing. The strain the excess liquid. Cool the apples before adding to the salad.

Add to the following

1/4 cup pecans
1 bag of romaine hearts
4 oz crumbled goat cheese

This salad should serve 2 as a dinner salad, or 4 as an appetizer.

Sasha's Kitchen: Caramelized Apple, Goat Cheese, Pecan Salad