Classic Caesar Salad with Garlic Croutons

⏳ Time

35 minutes

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

It is unlikely that the creator of this salad, an American chef of Italian descent named Caesar Cardini, could have imagined that his creation would become so famous worldwide. The French were right when they said that you can make three things out of nothing: a scandal, a hat, and a salad. It was indeed 'out of nothing' that the Caesar salad was born — now such a popular dish. Legend has it that the chef ran out of almost all his ingredients just when a large and boisterous group of Hollywood filmmakers arrived at his restaurant. The resourceful Italian gathered everything that was left and... entered the history of world cuisine. And he truly had very little left: romaine lettuce, garlic croutons, olive oil, eggs, Parmesan cheese, and Worcestershire sauce. Since modern restaurants do not suffer from a lack of ingredients, many variations of the Caesar salad have emerged. By the way, Caesar Cardini would hardly be offended. After all, it was his own brother who first began to modify this salad.

Ingredients

Romaine lettuce - 14.1 oz
Garlic - 0.1 oz
Olive Oil - 1 fl oz
Chicken Egg - 1 piece
Meyer Lemon Juice - 1 tablespoon
Worcestershire Sauce - 1 teaspoon
Grated Pecorino Pepato Cheese - 2 tablespoons
Salt - 1 teaspoon
White bread - 3.5 oz
Ground Black Pepper - to taste

Step by Step guide

Step 1

For the garlic croutons, cut the stale white bread, preferably a baguette, into cubes with a side of 1 cm and toast until lightly browned in an oven preheated to 356°F for about 10 minutes. During the toasting process, turn the croutons a couple of times on the baking sheet. Crush the garlic and mix it with salt. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and warm it over low heat. Add the croutons and, stirring, keep them on the heat for 1–2 minutes.

Step 2

Pierce a large raw egg at the blunt end and immerse it in a pot of barely boiling water for 1 minute.

Step 3

Rub a salad bowl with garlic and add roughly chopped greens. Drizzle with oil and gently toss. Season with salt and pepper, mix, add lemon juice and a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, and mix again. Crack the egg and pour it over the salad, mixing to coat the lettuce leaves, sprinkle with cheese, mix again, add the croutons, and mix one last time.