Caesar salad has to be one of the most common salads served in restaurants, and I used to wonder why. Most of the Caesars I ate were masses of limp Romaine struggling under the weight of a too-garlicky parmesan dressing with a few damp croutons thrown in to help carry the load. There was something about the concept of a Caesar that was appealing (parmesan, lemon, anchovy, garic– what’s not to like?), but the salads were like pieces of sleek midcentury furniture that had been overstuffed and reupholstered beyond recognition.
About 20 years ago, though, my first Caesar salad at San Francisco’s Zuni cafe revealed what a Caesar was meant to be. The dressing is rich, but light-bodied and silky smooth, giving the crisp Romaine leaves a glossy coating but not weighing them down. The flavors, including that of the lettuce, are all balanced so that nothing — not even the garlic — jumps to the fore. It’s light, crunchy and refreshing, and yet rich and satisfying. In short, it’s the perfect salad, and the one most often on the menu at our house.
It’s also very easy to make at home. The keys to success are good produce and being careful with the proportions of ingredients in the dressing.
One of Romaine’s advantages is that it almost always looks good. Unfortunately, its flavor can fade before its appearance, so it’s important to taste it before you commit yourself to a salad. If the leaves taste bitter, sour or otherwise unpleasant, toss it and go to Plan B. No matter how beautifully constructed your dressing, it can’t save a Caesar salad of bad Romaine. Similarly, use only plump, firm, fresh garlic. The taste of stale garlic will overwhelm this salad, and, worse, linger on your palate for hours.
The first time you make the dressing, I’d advise sticking closely to the recipe. You can adjust the lemon, salt and pepper and even anchovy at the end, but add too much vinegar or garlic at the beginning, and the flavor can get away from you. It’s also tempting to pile on the cheese, but hold back. Too much makes the salad feel heavy, particularly after the first few bites.
And now a word to the anchovy phobic: trust me. Most of the “fishy” taste people associate with anchovies comes from the oil they’re usually packed in, which often acquires an unpleasant flavor. If you buy good quality anchovies and soak the little fillets in water for a few minutes before you use them, this will disappear, leaving behind a deliciously nutty, earthy note for the dressing. There will be no fishy flavor at all. I promise.
Recipe
(Serves four as a salad course. Adapted from the excellent Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers.)
Ingredients
2-3 ounce chunk of good chewy bread (sourdough works fine here)
1-2 heads of Romaine lettuce
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2/3 cup mild tasting olive oil, plus 1-2 tablespoons for the croutons
1 scant tablespoon of chopped anchovy (3-4 fillets)
1 scant teaspoon of finely chopped garlic
about 2 ounces of good Parmegiano Reggiano cheese (about 3/4 cup, lightly packed), grated
1 large cold egg
1 lemon, squeezed to yield 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of juice
a few pinches of salt
black pepper
Instructions
1. Make the croutons. Preheat the oven to 350F. Tear the bread into about 1 inch pieces, crusts and all. Place in a mixing bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add two pinches of kosher salt and then toss again. Dump them onto a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until they are golden brown.
2. Place the fillets in a small bowl and cover with cold water. Soak them while you prepare the rest of the salad. If you’re using anchovies packed in oil, this will remove the often funky taste of the oil. If yours are packed in salt, this will save your dressing from becoming too salty.
3. Peel off any leathery or damaged outer leaves of lettuce and wash the rest. Discard any damaged leaves and snap off the thick white bottoms of the larger ones. One by one, lay out the leaves out on a towel to dry and blot them with another soft towel. (I’ve found that salad spinners tend to break and bruise larger salad leaves like Romaine.) Make sure the leaves are completely dry before you toss the salad –wet lettuce will wash out the flavor of the dressing and prevent it from properly coating the leaves.
4. Dry and chop the anchovies finely. Whisk together the oil, vinegar, anchovies, garlic and two pinches of salt in a mixing bowl. Add the egg, a few sprinkles of cheese and lots of black pepper. Whisk to emulsify. Add the lemon juice and whisk again. Taste the dressing, first on it’s own and then on a leaf of lettuce. If the Romaine is very mild and sweet, you may not need to adjust anything. If it has a stronger flavor, a little more lemon usually rights the balance. Of course, if you’re an anchovy fan, adding more won’t unbalance the dressing. If you choose to add more garlic, I would recommend proceeding with caution.
5. Put the Romaine leaves in a large bowl, tearing only the largest ones in half. Add about 3/4 of the dressing and toss to coat thoroughly. Then add the croutons, almost all of the remaining cheese and several grinds of black pepper. Toss again and taste. Add more dressing, salt and pepper as necessary.
6. Arrange the salad in a chilled wide bowl or on individual salad plates, distributing the croutons so as to give yourself a few more. Give the salad a final dusting of the remaining cheese and serve immediately.
