Caesar salad is one of my favorites. I often order it when I go out, and I make it every time someone asks me to make a salad. You can add your meat to it: chicken, turkey, shrimp, even fish, and make it a complete meal, or you can serve it on the side of any meal. It can be an everyday favorite or you can serve in a pretty bowl for a fancier, classier meal. Here's the way my mom taught me to make it.
The basics:
Prep time: 10 minutes
Good for leftovers: yes
servings: 4 huge, 6-8 medium
cost: $5-$10 depending on which dressing you choose and the cost of produce.
Ingredients:
2 heads of romaine lettuce
2-3 whole carrots, peeled and chopped
cucumber, peeled and sliced
fresh Parmesan
whole pitted olives (about 1/2 can drained)
Caesar dressing (about 2 tbs)
Caesar croutons (about 1 and 1/2 cups)
3-4 tomatoes cut in quarters, or a handful of cherry tomatoes
The Process:
Wash your lettuce and tear into bite sized pieces, throwing out any that are icky. If you tear instead of using a knife, the lettuce breaks along its own veins and will stay fresh longer. Add the rest of the veggies, the olives, croutons, Parmesan, and dressing, and toss with clean hands until its thoroughly mixed. Note: if you don't have a large bowl, tossing your salad can be tricky and messy. some options: mix in a large Tupperware first, or mix half the ingredients before adding and mixing the rest. Serve and top with more fresh Parmesan on each serving.
For the Parmesan, I recommend buying the brick of fresh Parmesan from the store and grating it yourself (my parents even got one of those neat little cheese graters like they use at restaurants), or buying a container of FRESH shredded Parmesan, not the dried kind. The dried stuff is good and will work if that's all you have, but the fresh kind has a much richer flavor.
Wash your lettuce and tear into bite sized pieces, throwing out any that are icky. If you tear instead of using a knife, the lettuce breaks along its own veins and will stay fresh longer. Add the rest of the veggies, the olives, croutons, Parmesan, and dressing, and toss with clean hands until its thoroughly mixed. Note: if you don't have a large bowl, tossing your salad can be tricky and messy. some options: mix in a large Tupperware first, or mix half the ingredients before adding and mixing the rest. Serve and top with more fresh Parmesan on each serving.
For the Parmesan, I recommend buying the brick of fresh Parmesan from the store and grating it yourself (my parents even got one of those neat little cheese graters like they use at restaurants), or buying a container of FRESH shredded Parmesan, not the dried kind. The dried stuff is good and will work if that's all you have, but the fresh kind has a much richer flavor.
Someday I hope to make my own Caesar dressing from scratch, but for now, my favorite is Brianna's Homestyle Caesar Dressing which can be found at most grocery stores.
Note for Leftovers: If you're preparing ahead, or planning to have leftovers, don't add the dressing and croutons until just before serving so that your salad doesn't get soggy. So if you're planning to save the leftovers, set that portion aside before adding croutons and dressing.
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