Many cookbooks have Caesar recipes, and often, this is by no means a salad. Although the classic name belongs precisely to the salad - part of French cooking. The very first Caesar was made with romaine lettuce, without crackers and chicken. But do not think that this is the most ideal option for selecting ingredients. Now in Caesar salad you can add almost any salad leaves, as well as additional croutons, cherry tomatoes, boiled eggs and pieces of fried chicken. These are ingredients that can be changed and replaced. But there are also products without which there cannot be exactly the classic Caesar salad - this is Parmesan cheese and the main thing that is in the salad is sauce. The sour-spicy taste of the sauce plays a major role in this dish, which is why it has the same name as the salad.
Classic Caesar Salad (step by step recipe) - general principles of preparation
The classic Caesar salad is ideally made from romaine lettuce leaves, which have crispy leaves with a nutty flavor. But they can be replaced without problems with lettuce or iceberg.
Croutons are made from fresh white wheat bread. The crust is necessarily cut, and the rest is crushed into cubes and fried in a well-heated oil until a slight blush. Before adding to the salad bowl, croutons should be placed on top of the napkin so that it absorbs all excess oil.
As a meat for salad, it is better to eat the chicken breast breast. It should be thoroughly washed and fried in a pan, or boiled.
A classic salad dressing with olive oil, lemon juice, eggs and Worcester sauce. Also, if desired, you can add salt, mustard powder and ground black pepper.
An indispensable ingredient in the sauce is an almost raw egg. It must be fresh and aged for half an hour at room temperature. It should be prepared by simply immersing in boiled water for at least a minute. The consistency of the egg should be liquid.
For puff lettuce, lettuce leaves ragged by hands are first laid out, then everything is poured with part of the sauce, and then croutons are laid out on top and again poured with sauce. Top should be sprinkled with grated Parmesan. You can decorate the salad with cherry tomatoes and halves of quail eggs.
Classic Caesar Salad: a step-by-step recipe
Ingredients:
• 300 g lettuce leaves;
• 50 g of parmesan;
• 100 g of wheat bread;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 15 g of dried herbs;
• salt to taste.
For the sauce:
• 40 ml of lemon juice;
• 5 ml of Worcester sauce;
• one chicken egg;
• 60 ml of olive oil;
• a pinch of ground black pepper;
• 15 g mustard powder.
Cooking method:
1. A step-by-step recipe for a classic Caesar salad starts with making the sauce. Rinse the chicken egg in water.
2. Pour water into a small pot so that the egg goes into it. Add salt on the tip of the spoon.
3. Bring the water to a slight boil.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Submerge the chicken egg in hot water.
6. We are waiting for 50-60 seconds. During this time, the egg is slightly cooked.
7. Take the egg with a tablespoon.
8. Cool it for 5-7 minutes.
9. Peel the egg from the shell.
10. Place the egg in the blender bowl, it will be liquid in consistency.
11. Add ground mustard.
12. Beat with a blender at a low speed of rotation of the whisk until smooth for several seconds.
13. Add olive oil (50 ml) in several portions. You can notice that the more oil, the thicker the sauce becomes.
14. We continue to whisk.
15. Put in the sauce just squeezed lemon juice and Worcester sauce, as well as salt and ground pepper.
16. Beat a few more seconds.
17. We put the sauce aside for now, but do not put it in the refrigerator.
18. Rinse lettuce leaves in cold water.
19. We lay them on a clean and dry kitchen towel for several minutes.
20. Then we tear the leaves with our hands into small specimens.
21. Put them in a bowl to mix the salad.
22. Wheat bread cut from the side crusts and cut into cubes on a cutting board.
23. Put the bread cubes in a dry pan.
24. Sprinkle them with the remaining olive oil.
25. Fry over high heat until lightly crispy crust, periodically stirring the cubes.
26. Peel the garlic cloves and rinse in running water.
27. Grind the garlic using a special crush or press.
28. Grind the Parmesan cheese on a fine grater.
29. In a bowl for salad, mix together with lettuce wheat croutons, garlic and parmesan.
30. Sprinkle lettuce with selected dry herbs. It can be tarragon, rosemary or tarragon. A mixture of these herbs is also appropriate.
31. Season with salt.
32. Stir.
33. Pour the sauce prepared earlier according to the step-by-step recipe.
34. Serve the classic Caesar salad in one large bowl or in separate portioned salad bowls.
Classic Caesar Salad with Chicken: A Step-by-Step Recipe
Ingredients:
• a pound of chicken breast fillet;
• 200 g lettuce leaves (preferably romaine varieties);
• two chicken eggs (or four quail eggs);
• 120 g of wheat bread;
• 10 ml of vegetable oil;
• salt to taste;
• black pepper to taste.
For the sauce:
• one clove of garlic;
• 60 ml of vegetable oil (olive can be);
• one chicken egg;
• 6 ml of Worcester sauce;
• one third of one lemon (lime possible);
• 50 g of parmesan cheese.
Cooking method:
1. Rinse the chicken breast in cold water.
2. Dry the fillet with a paper towel.
3. We put it on a cutting board and remove all excess films.
4. Sprinkle the fillet with vegetable oil.
5. Sprinkle with a small amount of salt and ground pepper.
6. Rub the fillets on all sides with oil and spices.
7. Leave for a few minutes for pickling.
8. Then heat the frying pan.
9. Put the chicken breast fillet in it.
10. Fry on one side for 3-4 minutes until a crispy color appears.
11. Turn over to the other side and also fry until cooked. In this case, you can close the pan with a lid and slightly reduce the heat of the burner, so that the breast is well baked from the inside.
12. After 4-5 minutes, remove the pan from the stove and turn the fillet over again.
13. Close the pan with the fried chicken breast fillet with a lid and set aside for now.
14. In a separate small saucepan we place chicken or quail eggs.
15. Fill them with water.
16. We put on a plate for hard boiling.
17. Slices of wheat bread free from side crusts.
18. Cut the bread into pieces or cubes.
19. We lay them on a baking sheet, spray with oil.
20. We send the bread slices into a hot oven for baking for 5-6 minutes. During this time, they should be turned over once.
21. When the allotted time has passed, take out the baking sheet.
22. Put the croutons in a bowl for mixing the salad.
23. By this time, the eggs should have just boiled. We take them out of the pan and immerse them in a bowl of cold water for cooling.
24. Then we clear the eggshells.
25. Cut the eggs on a cutting board with a knife into quarters.
26. We shift the pieces of eggs into a bowl with croutons.
27. In the meantime, we sort out lettuce leaves. Only fresh, undamaged specimens are needed.
28. The selected leaves are placed in a cup of cool water and washed.
29. Then we pull out and lay out the leaves on a dry clean kitchen towel for drying at room temperature.
30. After that, the leaves are torn manually into small pieces.
31. Fold leaves to croutons and eggs.
32. We get the chicken breast fillet and cut into thin slices.
33. Put the chicken slices in a bowl of salad.
34. Season with salt and ground pepper. Now you need to remember that in the step-by-step recipe for the classic Caesar salad there will also be sauce. A lot of salt is not necessary.
35. Rub the parmesan cheese on a fine grater to make it look like thin cheese noodles.
36. Preparation of the sauce for the classic Caesar salad with chicken takes enough time. A step-by-step recipe for the sauce begins with preparing the chicken egg. It must certainly be at room temperature, otherwise it may burst and cook hard-boiled. For this sauce, you need an egg a little thinner than poached.
37. Pour water into a pot with a volume of not more than a liter.
38. Heat the water to a boil.
39. Remove from heat.
40. Carefully, so as not to crack, dip the egg into it.
41. Leave for 7-9 minutes.
42. Then we take out the egg. Water by this time should already be cooled.
43. We clear the egg from the shell.
44. Put it in a bowl to whip the sauce.
45. Peel and rinse with water a clove of garlic.
46. We grind a clove into gruel in any convenient way.
47. Add the mashed garlic to the egg.
48. A little whisk with a whisk at low revolutions of rotation for several seconds.
49. Then squeeze the lemon juice into the sauce.
50. Pour in Worcester sauce.
51. Beat until smooth.
52. At the same time, pour vegetable oil in portions. Olive is best, but you can take any other oil.
53. When the consistency of the sauce is uniform, add the crushed cheese to it.
54. Stir the sauce with a spoon.
55. Pour the previously prepared salad and immediately serve.
Classic Caesar Salad (step by step recipe) - tricks and tips
• If lettuce leaves slightly faded, then they need to soak for a quarter of an hour in cool water.
• To get croutons with a garlic taste, first fry the garlic in a pan, and only then in the same oil croutons.
• If desired, you can use the ready-made Caesar store sauce for cooking.
• You can also add boiled shrimp to the salad.
• If desired, Worcester sauce can be prepared on your own at home.
