I paid attention

Yesterday we had a picnic to go to and my husband volunteered me for salads, in his words: "Not pasta or picnic salads, GREEN salads". For those of you who know me, this was not my norm. I couldn't believe it, I usually take some kind of dessert or entree or something that takes a little more effort. He said it was the only thing left so I went with it......

I made two salads, one was Cesar Salad and the other was just an oil and vinegar dinner salad. Anyway, I paid attention when I was putting together the Cesar Salad Dressing and can share it here it goes:

2 egg yolks
1tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1 clove of garlic (peeled)
2 anchovie filets (right out of the can)
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper (fresh ground is best)
1 lemon juiced
1/2 cup fresh parmasean cheese

put all above ingredients in a blender to chop and mix until looks somewhat creamy, you could also put it in a food processor, or just chop it all by hand and then mash it up together and then mix.

1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Using a whisk: Whisk in olive oil, slowly, whisking quickly adding oil slow, being sure to incorporate it all before adding more, it is very important to emulsify the oil and other ingredients, otherwise you will have a "seperation".

Taste and adjust flavors as necessary to your liking.

Now put together the salad:
Romaine lettuce is best, tear into bite size pieces add black olives, tomato, parmasean cheese, and red onion, mix together and then put in the cesar dressing and get your hands in it and mix the dressing all through!

Some additions:
Croutons: store bought or you can chop up french bread and fry in a mixture of olive oil and salad oil until it looks of a goldenish color, remove and add salt, pepper and parmesean cheese.

Grilled Chicken Breast or Tenderloins: marinate chicken breast or tenderloins in something like lemon juice salt, pepper, garlic (either let it sit up to one day or use immediately). Grill until the markings, grill marks, are pretty, remove from grill put in a baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and you will have still juicy all cooked chicken. If you are using tenderloins, just grill and use, they are thinner and more tender so they do not take any amount of time to cook (we really started using these more when I went back to work). Slice up and add to salad.

Steak: Grill to your liking (please season first) slice and add to your salad.

Anyway, we had plain old cesar salad with croutons and I liked it! But I was more impressed that I paid attention to the ingredient amounts that I had to share!