You Should Know How To Make A Proper Caesar Salad.

One of life's greatest pleasures is a proper Caesar Salad.

And Rosie's here to show you how to make one.
Step by step.
Inch by inch...

A proper Caesar salad starts with proper croutons.

Which start with a proper loaf of homemade bread.
Here's my basic bread recipe:  sandwich loaf.
I made this recipe for the dough and used three foil 4 x 8-inch loaf pans in which to bake the bread.
If you want to cheat, get a baguette from the grocery store.  Something from the deli.  Just don't use a white loaf of Wonder bread.  That is of the Devil.

Cut the bread into cubes.

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt about 3/4 stick of unsalted butter and a tablespoon of oil and drop in the bread cubes, tossing to coat evenly.

Add in 3-4 tablespoons of oregano, shaking the pan.
You could also add in a bit of thyme, sage, rosemary, Italian seasoning.  It's all good.
Keep shaking that pan and tossing the cubes for about 5 minutes.

After sautéeing the cubes for a bit, squeeze in 3-4 cloves of garlic.
You don't want to add the garlic at the beginning - you don't want to burn it.  Gets yukky bitter.

Toss, shake, stir.  Keep those cubes moving.

Turn cubes into a baking pan and place in a slow and low oven (300°) for about 30 minutes.
Or until they get nice and toasty and golden.

These will be the best croutons you've ever eaten.
Try not to snack on all of them before you make the salad.

Now for the dressing...

This dressing is a starting point for you.  Once you get the hang of it, you might want to adjust for your own tastes, for example, more garlic, or more lemon, or more whatever.

There are two caveats:
1)  Taste test your Parmesan cheese first.  Get a good quality Parm.  I like Il Villagio.  I do not like Stella.  Your mileage may vary.  If you can, taste test the cheese before you buy.  (Go to Trio Wine Beer and Cheese.)
2)  I prefer a neutral olive oil for my Caesar dressing, so I use Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil.  You don't want the olive oil to overpower the dressing and, let's face it, some olive oils taste like turpentine.  Try the Bertolli first and if you want to be adventurous afterwards, again taste test before you buy.  (Go to Outer Banks Olive Oil Co.)


Caesar Salad Dressing

4 anchovies
4 garlic cloves
juice of one lemon
2 TB gray poupon Dijon mustard
1 TB Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
1 coddled egg
3/4 cup Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Rinse off the anchovies in cold water.
Finely mince and mash the anchovies.  You could use a mortar and pestle here.
Mince and mash the garlic along with the anchovies.
Stir in the lemon juice, the mustard, and the Lea & Perrins.
To coddle an egg, bring a small container of water to a boil.  Drop the whole egg in and let it sit in the water for 1 minute.  Take the egg out and crack it into the mixture.  Whisk well.
Slowly, a tablespoon at a time, whisk in the olive oil, to make an emulsion.
Your mixture should be a nice buckskin color. 
Taste test.
Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

Mash up the anchovies.

After mashing the anchovies, add in the minced or pressed garlic.
I use a mini-processor or just a bowl and a whisk.
Mr. H. prefers an immersion blender.

Lemon juice in.

And process.

Dijon and Lea & Perrins in.

And process.

Finely grate the Parmesan.

Drop an egg into boiling water to coddle it.
One minute is enough for coddling.

Add the coddled egg to the mix.

And process.

Now start processing the olive oil.  One tablespoon at a time.  You want to emulsify the mixture.

Till it looks like this.

Stir in the grated cheese.

And you have Caesar Dressing!

Toss with torn Romaine lettuce and homemade croutons.
If desired, grate more Parmesan cheese over top.

And admit that this is the BEST Caesar Salad you've had.

Enjoy!

The Hawthornes Create Their World-Famous Caesar Salad.

You haven't had a Caesar Salad 

until you've had the Hawthornes' Caesar Salad.

Yes, people come from miles away for a seat at the Hawthorne table

 whenever we serve our Caesar Salads with homemade croutons.

Caesar Salad Dressing

3 anchovy filets

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 TB Dijon mustard

Juice of 1 lemon

1 TB Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce

1 coddled egg

3/4 cup Bertolli Extra light olive oil

1/3 - 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

You can do this with a mortar and pestle or a blender.

I prefer a mortar and pestle.

Pestle the anchovies and garlic in a mortar.

Whisk in mustard, lemon juice, and Lea & Perrins.

To coddle an egg, nuke a cup of water until boiling.

Drop in the egg (the whole egg) and leave it for 1 minute.

Crack the egg into the anchovy mixture and whisk it in.

Slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking constantly to get a nice emulsion.

I prefer using Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil 

for my Caesar Salads because it doesn't overpower the dressing,

like some stronger olive oils would do.

Stir in the Parmesan cheese.

Homemade Croutons
1 French or Italian loaf, torn into small pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs

(parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and oregano)
6 TB unsalted butter
2 TB Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
Add in oil and butter.
When the butter melts, stir in the chopped herbs.
Add in the bread pieces and garlic.
Toss to coat and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes.
Turn bread pieces onto a sheet pan in a single layer.
Cook in a 250° oven, tossing occasionally, for an hour.
Turn off oven and leave in the croutons for another hour.

To serve, toss torn Romaine lettuce with the dressing.
Add croutons and additional Parmesan if desired.
Enjoy!

Please check out Rosie's latest column in Albemarle Tradewinds.

Caesar salad and homemade croutons!

Rosie Makes Crab Meat Stuffed Mushrooms.

 Good Neighbor Bobby showed up the other morning

with a bucket of blue crabs for the Hawthornes.

We have such good neighbors.

And the bad ones mysteriously disappear

and are never heard from again.

Check it out.

This one measured over 16 inches from tip to tip.

 The carapace alone is 7 1/2 inches across.

 As always, Mr. Hawthorne gets the "shit detail,"

 as he calls it.

But, if you notice, he eats his way through,

so it ain't all bad.

He's wearing one of his favorite T-shirts.

He wore this to the Chevy dealership

the other day when we had to get a new truck.

He deemed it appropriate.

As a rule, crab meat needs nothing added to it,

except a little melted butter and lemon juice for me.

But sometimes,

I want something a bit more substantial,

so I'm stuffing mushrooms today.

 I stemmed the mushrooms,

saving the stems in my mushroom bag in the freezer.

 Mr. Hawthorne came in,

took one look at my shrooms, and ...

 ... decided to trim the edges

to allow for more crab meat stuffing.

Always thinking, that Mr. Hawthorne!

The trimmings went into my mushroom bag.

 Neatly trimmed caps.

 Mise en place

mushroom caps

about 1 pound crab meat

1/2 stick melted butter

juice of 1 lemon

1 TB chopped red onion

a few shakes of dry mustard

a few shakes of Old Bay

 a few shakes of hot Hungarian paprika

 scallions

grated parmesan cheese

Panko bread crumbs

about 1 pound crab meat

1/2 stick melted butter

juice of 1 lemon

1 TB chopped red onion

 dry mustard

 Old Bay

hot Hungarian paprika

scallions

mushrooms caps

grated parmesan cheese

Panko bread crumbs

 I added a couple shakes each paprika, dry mustard, and Old Bay

directly to the melted butter.

 Pour over crab meat.

Add in chopped red onion and fold gently.

 You don't want to break up these beautiful chunks.

 Stuff mushrooms with crab meat mixture.

 Be generous.

 Top with chopped scallions.

 Mix equal amounts grated Parmesan and Panko bread crumbs.

 Sprinkle Parm/Panko mixture on top.

 

 Pour a nice chardonnay halfway up the side of the caps.

 

 I had leftover crab meat mixture and panko/Parmesan

so I combined them.

Moreover Crabmeat later!

 Bake in a 350° oven

until nicely browned.

Sprinkle more chopped scallions over top.

 We had these as an appetizer ...

 ...  the prelude to our collaborative Caesar salad.

 Mr. Hawthorne likes to be in charge of the dressing

and I make the croutons.

For our Caesar Salad and Homemade Croutons recipes,

please check out my column in the Outer Banks Voice.

Stay tuned for my Crab Meat Moreovers.