Caesar salad with cheesy croutons
You can add a softly boiled egg, a few crispy bacon rashers or some sundried tomatoes to this dish, if you like. Use light olive oil, or half sunflower and half olive oil – otherwise the dressing will be too bitter and ‘green’ tasting with good olive oil. With all the salty elements such as anchovies, parmesan and mustard, season with pepper but go easy on the salt.
30 MINUTES | SERVES 2 | EASY | LC
sourdough or bloomer 2 slices olive oil 1 tbsp
parmesan finely grated to make 1 tbsp, plus shavings to serve
brown anchovies 8
Little Gem lettuces 2, leaves separated
roast chicken 100-150g, torn into bite-sized pieces CAESAR DRESSING
egg yolk 1
garlic Ω a small clove
dijon mustard 2 tsp
lemon juice 1 tbsp
light olive oil 100ml
parmesan finely grated to make 2 tbsp
Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Tear or cut the bread into bite-sized croutons and tip onto a baking tray, drizzle with the olive oil and season with cracked black pepper. Toss well and bake for 10 minutes until golden and crisp. Sprinkle over 1 tbsp of grated parmesan, and toss well. Bake for another 2-3 minutes until the cheese melts onto the croutons. Leave to cool for a few minutes before assembling.
Meanwhile, put the egg yolk, garlic, mustard and lemon juice in a jug. Finely chop 2 anchovies and add to the jug. Season lightly, then blend with a stick blender until smooth. Slowly add the oil with the motor still running, and blend until thickened. Check for seasoning, adding a dash more lemon, mustard or a splash of water to loosen if you need to. Stir in 2 tbsp of grated parmesan.
Put the lettuce and chicken into a large bowl with 4 heaped tbsp of the dressing, and toss everything until evenly and lightly coated, rather than being drenched in the dressing – add a little more to coat the leaves if you need to, though. Add the croutons and toss briefly again. Divide between two plates, top with anchovies, parmesan shavings and another crack of black pepper. Add an extra dollop of dressing to dip the croutons in, if you like. The left-over dressing will keep, chilled, for three days.
PER SERVING 517 kcals | fat 35.2G saturates 7.7G | carbs 20.4G | sugars 4.3G fibre 4.1G | protein 27.6G | salt 2.8G