Mr. Hawthorne And Rosie Prepare Caesar Salad With Homemade Croutons.

Ticky graced our humble household with her presence Friday and Mr. Hawthorne and I made a Caesar Salad for her. First, my croutons.

OK. I admit it. I'm Semi-Ho-ing my croutons. Instead of baking my own bread, I decided to use a loaf I bought at Harris Teeter. Shoot me.

I used about 2/3 loaf for the croutons.

Tear or slice the bread into crouton-sized bites.

I went out in my garden and picked parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. And oregano.

I chopped the herbs and minced 2 or 3 cloves of garlic.

I melted 1/2 stick butter

and swirled some extra light Bertolli olive oil in my pan, then added the bread cubes, tossing to coat.

Cook over medium low heat for about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Spread out on a baking sheet, put in a 300 degree oven, and bake until nicely browned and crispy.

Ingredients for the Caesar salad dressing: 1/2 tin anchovies, mashed 5 garlic cloves, minced 1 TB Dijon mustard 1 TB Lea & Perrins juice of 2 lemons 1 egg, coddled 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, or to taste about 1 cup ELBOO Mince and mash anchovies. Add in minced garlic, Dijon, Lea & Perrins, and lemon juice. Coddle the egg. Bring a cup of water to boil, then put the egg in the hot water for 60 seconds. Mix egg in with dressing. Gradually whisk in the olive oil to make a nice emulsion. Finally, grate in the cheese.

More videos. For your edification.

Here's our Caesar salad. Every time I check out a new restaurant, I always order their Caesar salad. It's my benchmark test. I've had good salads, some mediocre. Others, just ... not quite right. But never, ever, one as good as what we make.

Stay tuned for pizza. With pesto. Yup. I've done pizza before. Lots of times. But it always bears repeating.