CAESAR SALAD                INSALATA DI CESARE

.... a Vincent Price recipe
Anyone who has visited us for dinner more then once has likely experienced, what I think, is the perfect "Caesar".

Feb 15, 2011
  • 2 heads romaine lettuce
  • salt
  • 1 clove garlic
  • pepper
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 coddled egg (boiled for 60 secods).
  • 1 1/2 cup croutons
  • 1/2-3/4 cup FRESH grated parmesan cheese
  • anchovies (amt depends on taste)
  • 1 lemon

Rub inside of a large bowl with the garlic. Break the lettuce into bite size pieces and place in bowl.
Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Add olive oil and toss.
Squeeze in the lemon luice.
Cook the egg for 1 minute (coddled) and break into the bowl, continue to toss.
Add the grated cheese and croutons.
ANCHOVIES:
method 1: Place from 6 to the contents of a full tin in the olive oil prior to making the salad. Then, at the proper moment, add the oil and anchovies together.
method 2: Mash the anchovies into a paste and add to the olive oil.
method 3: Finish each individual salad with 2-3 anchovies.

NOTE:

For the perfect caesar salad you must be selective with the romaine;
peel off and discard all the outer layers and discard the top and bottom
portions as seen in the diagram. Wash the remaining leaves thoroughly.

Addendum: Caesar Salad comes to us from an obscure restaurant from 1920's Tijuana. Caesar Cardini, owner of Caesar's Restaurant at the time, is credited with creating this magnificent yet simple salad. His original recipe is similar to mine, but he did not use anchovies (as is very popular now), but chose worscheshire sauce instead to give the classic "bite". He also insisted on the highest quality parmesan and olive oil, a sign of his Italian upbringing.

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