Caesar Salad - Kind Of

I wanted to make an elegant looking, but somewhat deconstructed Caesar salad for a fancy party at hour house. We were saying thank you to a friend who came in from out of town to teach a class for Madame, and he, his wife and the others are all rather intense foodies. So, we had to be on form.

Thanks to Julie Collins for the Photograph



The main ingredients in a traditional Caesar salad are Romaine, garlic, egg, oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Parmigiano-Reggiano, croutons, salt and pepper. Since anchovies are major components of Worcestershire sauce, I don't use them when making a Caesar salad.
This salad had all of the above but in a rather different way.

Ingredients

8 1 3/4" bread rounds (thinly sliced rounds)
1t (very rough measurement) garlic oil
Salt
Pepper
8 quail eggs + 1 quail egg yolk to be warmed in the lemon juice.
Romaine leaves from the heartof the romaine.
1 t (again rough measure) lemon oil - lemon zest steeped in oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 t Worcestershire sauce
2 T olive oil (doesn't have to be EV)
2T high quality olive oil (preferably EV)
2 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Romano cheese

Method

Brush the bread rounds with garlic oil, place them in muffin tins, pressed down to make an indentation in a muffin pan. Bake in a 400F oven for about 6 minutes, checking to make sure they don't burn. The length of time depends on the bread. Turn them out of the tin, return to the oven for a further 3 minutes to brown. Allow them to cool to room temperature. This can be done well in advance.
Put a little salt and pepper in the base of each round and break a quail egg into the ound.



Thanks to Julie Collins for the photograph

 

Put a few drops of garlic oil on top of each egg to protect the surface from the hot oven. Bake the quail egg croutons for 3-4 minutes until the egg is almost set.

Make the dressing using the lemon juice, quail egg yolk, Worcestershire sauce and oils.  Assemble the salad, placing a few drops of lemon oil on the plate and sprinkling the pepper. As you can see from the picture, we served the dressing "on the side" in a pipette, so people could dress the salad themselves.

This was served with a 2002 Gravonia from the Rioja valley. The grape is 100% Viura (something we don't see often). Bone dry, minerally, complements the lushness of the egg crouton perfectly.



Caesar Salad

We had a hankering for a "proper" Caesar salad last week. No hairy fish, no gloppy dressing - just great Romaine with everything done just right. It's harder than it appears - even though the ingredients are simple.
Ingredients (Served 2 as main course)
2 garlic cloves + 1/4 t salt
3T pure olive oil
1/2 cup croutons (unflavored if buying - home made better)
1 egg
1 Romaine - pale leaves and heart only
4T Extra Virgin Olive Oil (best quality you can find
1T lemon juice
Few drops Worcesterhire sauce
1/4 cup coarsely grated Parmiggiano Reggiano
Coarse sea salt
Pepper
Method
Peel and mince the garlic, then sprinkle with salt and make a paste. Mix in 1T olive oil. Warm the other 2T of the pure olive oil in a pan, add the garlic paste and warm through. Toss in the croutons and warm through. Do not allow the garlic to brown as it will turn bitter.
Coddle the egg by placing the refrigerator temperature egg in a pan enough water to cover, bring to a simmer, turn off the heat and leave for 1 minute. Note if you are worried about salmonella and eggs, you may want to use a pasteurized egg for this.
Place the leaves in a large bowl, drizzle on the extra virgin olive oil. Toss. Add the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Toss. Add the coddled egg and toss. The egg should emuslify into the lemon juice/oil. Add the croutons. Toss. Add the grated cheese. Toss. Serve the salad with some coarse sea salt and pepper to taste.