One of my absolute favorite salads are Caesar salads. I love the saltiness of the dressing, the simplicity of the ingredients and lets be honest...anything combined and covered with Parmesan cheese can't be wrong. I go through phases where I become "fascinated" with things and when I made this Salmon Caesar salad I'd recently discovered making my own salad dressings. If you've never tinkered with this, please do. The difference between homemade dressing and bottled is unreal. I decided to try my hand at Caesar dressing...without the raw egg. I know, I know...when you order them in the restaurant that's how they make it but I like to "forget" that when I'm eating them and simply omit it at home. It's yummy just the same, lol. Everything is homemade, down to the croutons that are again life changing. Let me just get to the recipe so you can experience this for yourself, lol.
The dressing was much simpler than I anticipated and what I actually did was incorporated a few elements of a greek vinaigrette that I found. The caesar dressing recipe was found on www.foodnetwork.com and I just made a few tweeks here and there.
I make my salad dressings in the bowl to make clean up easier. I used a few anchovy fillets and mashed them up with kosher salt to make a paste. You can certainly just buy anchovy paste and and use a nice spoonful. This adds a nice saltiness to the dressing and tons of flavor. It's not fishy perse, but it does have a distinct taste that's familiar with most caesar dressings. Next I added about 2 teaspoons, or two good squirts, of dijon mustard. This acts as the emulsifier. In traditional caesar dressing the egg is what brings everything to together to make it thick and creamy. In this recipe the mustard does the job adding a bit of complexity. Next, I grated a garlic clove in using a microplane and pretty much dumped the following in: a few generous dashes of Worchestershire sauce, the juice from a lemon, some grated parm, and black pepper. I mixed this together and SLOWLY poured in extra virgin olive oil and whisked until it became salad dressing. Simple.
Next I made my croutons. I took a sourdough loaf and cut some cubes that were mouthsome pieces...not too big, not too little. While I was cutting my bread I took a heavy bottomed skillet and added EVOO. Under a medium heat, I crushed a garlic clove and allowed it to slowly infuse the oil with flavor. When making croutons you don't want garlic chunks but just the garlic taste.
After the oil is properly seasoned, I added a pat of butter for more flavor and a teaspoon of dried Italian season and put my bread in tossing frequently so that they can brown evenly and get toasty.
While I waited for the croutons to toast I prepared the salad and salmon. I kept the seasoning on the salmon very simple. Kosher salt and pepper. I seared them fleshed side down in a cast iron skillet in a couple shakes of EVOO for 8 mins. I flipped the fish over and allowed it to go for another 4 mins before sticking it in a 350 degree oven for no longer than 10 mins. You just want the fish to feel a bit firm to the touch.
I added my salad veggies to my bowl of dressing. This is entirely up to you and your taste. In keeping with the simplicity of caesar salads I chose romaine lettuce, halved grape tomatoes, seedless cucumbers and some leftover broccoli I had...and that was it. I mixed that in the bowl with the dressing and also added my croutons to give them a chance to soak up some of that salty, garlic goodness but not letting it sit long enough to lose their crunch.
I plated the salad and added a piece of salmon on top and there you have it! I finished it with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I finish a lot of my food with fresh lemon juice...it enhances the flavor exponentially and makes the flavors taste almost clean.
From point A to Z this is it!!! Hope this was understandable...I will be getting better as I keep doing this and that you find it useful. Until we meet again!
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