Summer salad recipes: How to make a delicious caesar salad in 15 minutes

Caesar salads are a staple of every summer get-together

The perfect Caesar salad is just moments away.

Caesar salad

recipe by:Darina Allen

Light, creamy and delicious - a proper Caesar salad is hard to beat

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 5 mins

Total Time

 15 mins

Course

 Side

Cuisine

 Italian

Ingredients

• 1 large head of Cos (Romaine) lettuce

• 50g freshly grated Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano if possible)

• 2 slices white bread, diced into 1/2 inch (1cm) cubes

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

•  For the dressing:

• 2 egg yolks, preferably free-range

• 2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed

• 1 x 50g tin anchovies

• 1 clove garlic, crushed

• a generous pinch of English mustard powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• ½-1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• ½-1 tbsp Tabasco sauce

• 175ml sunflower oil

• 50ml extra virgin olive oil

• 50ml cold water

• For the croutons:

• 1 slice of slightly stale pan bread

• sunflower or olive oil

Method

1. Wash the lettuce leaves, dry really thoroughly and chill lightly wrapped in a tea-towel in a bowl while you make the dressing.

2. I make it in a food processor but it can also be made very quickly by hand. Drain the anchovies and crush lightly with a fork. Put into a bowl with the egg yolks, add the garlic, lemon juice, mustard powder, salt, Worcester and Tabasco sauce. Whisk all the ingredients together.  As you whisk, add the oils slowly at first, then a little faster as the emulsion forms. Finally, whisk in the water to make a spreadable consistency. Taste and correct the seasoning: this dressing should be highly flavoured.

3. Next make the croutons. Cut the crusts off the bread, next cut into 5mm strips and then into exact cubes (a cube is a six-sided square with equal sides). Heat the sunflower or olive oil in a frying pan, it should be at least 2cm (3/4 inch) deep and almost smoking.

4. Add the croutons to the hot oil.  Stir once or twice, they will colour almost immediately.  Put a tin sieve over a Pyrex or stainless steel bowl.  When the croutons are golden brown, pour the oil and croutons into the sieve.  Drain the croutons on kitchen paper.

5. To serve, put a tablespoon of dressing per person in a big bowl, add in the chilled whole lettuce leaves, croutons and about half the parmesan. Toss the leaves gently but thoroughly in the dressing. This is done most effectively with the hand, but if this does not appeal to you, use salad servers. Add more dressing if necessary to coat the leaves. Arrange the dressed leaves on individual chilled plates. Scatter the crisp croutons over the top and sprinkle the remaining parmesan on top.   Serve immediately.

6. Note: The remaining dressing will keep covered in a fridge for several days.