Hail, Caesar!

Returning home late Sunday after a beautiful, whirlwind weekend with all the kids, grand babies, and my sister and her family to celebrate my milestone birthday (not gonna say which one!), I am so glad to have a stash of this dressing in the fridge for an easy dinner or two! Although a Caesar salad usually uses romaine lettuce, there are some farms growing second plantings of lettuce, and sometimes I’ll use whatever local variety is available. We can buy roasted chicken or a piece of cooked salmon to put on top, and dinner is done! Here’s the link to the Berkshire Eagle column, or scroll down! 

FISH…OR FOUL?

by Elizabeth Baer

What do you think is the most polarizing food? There are definitely plenty of ingredients that various people prefer, but I think anchovies are probably the ingredient for which many people have a strong negative opinion, some of whom have never actually tried one! My husband, on the other hand, is one of those people who asks for extra anchovies on his Caesar salad.

It’s almost as if the no-anchovies-on-pizza trope has embedded itself in our minds, and yet many of these people will enjoy a Caesar salad. Even if they don’t want anchovy fillets on top, most Caesar dressings include anchovies, so combined with other ingredients it’s fine. In fact, I like to use a couple anchovy fillets as a flavor enhancer in stews and meat sauces, and no one ever knows they’re part of the recipe. And anchovies give flavor to Worcestershire sauce which finds its way into many recipes

This week’s recipe is pretty simple, just for the dressing (although the photo includes croutons and sliced chicken over romaine tossed with Caesar dressing). However, contrary to my usual practice, I am going to suggest a specific piece of equipment for making it – an immersion blender. As much as I don’t like to make such a specification, I absolutely hate cleaning up the food processor when I’ve drizzled in oil in making dressing and the oil has splattered into every little crevice. I never feel like I get it totally clean. So for making salad dressing or mayonnaise (and this, with an egg yolk, is actually a flavored mayonnaise), I love using an immersion blender, especially working with small quantities. I also measure out the oils first, using the lines on the side of the cup that came with mine, thus eliminating the need to clean an oily measuring cup.

I like to use salted anchovy fillets, but the ones packed in oil in a tin are fine and much more readily available. I’ve not tried using anchovy paste from a tube, but I’m sure about a tablespoon would also work fine. For lemon juice, I usually will squeeze a lemon, but, I confess, sometimes I just use store-bought. (When canning, it is important to use store-bought lemon juice because the acidity is consistent, so I usually have some in the fridge, especially in canning season.)

As a former Latin teacher, I cannot finish this column without mentioning that Caesar, the Roman ruler, had absolutely nothing to do with Caesar salad (although the Romans did enjoy a sauce called garum made from fermented anchovies or sometimes similar small fish). The salad was created by a man named Caesar at a restaurant in Mexico, as legend has it, one hundred years ago, on July 4, 1924. But even though there is no connection between the salad and the ancient Roman, that did not stop me from bringing Caesar salad into school for my students on occasion, especially on or around the Ides of March!

CAESAR DRESSING

Makes about ¾ cup thick dressing

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 anchovy fillets

• ⅓ cup canola or other neutral oil

• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil (optional – for extra flavor, if using anchovy fillets packed in oil, spoon a tablespoon or two from the tin and reduce olive oil by equivalent amount)

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

• ¼ cup grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS:

If using salted anchovies, rinse two anchovies under cold running water to remove all the salt. Gently pry open the fish. The bones should cling to one side and place the other fillet on a paper towel to dry. Lift the bones off the other side and discard. Place the second fillet on the paper towel. Repeat with the second anchovy. (Any remaining anchovies packed in salt will last for a long time in the fridge.) If using anchovy fillets packed in oil, lift out 4 fillets and place on a cutting board. Store remaining anchovies in the fridge to use another time.

Using the side of a fork, mash the anchovies as much as possible. If they are tough, use a knife to chop into smaller pieces first.

Measure the oils into the cup of an immersion blender using the lines on the side. Add all the remaining ingredients.

(Once you have separated the egg, you can freeze the white for another use. I keep frozen egg whites in ½-cup containers because that’s the exact amount I need for a batch of financiers, a French cake-like cookie with nut flour and browned butter. If a container isn’t full, I freeze it anyway and add another egg white the next time I have one.)

With the immersion blender all the way down in the cup, press and hold the button, slowly moving the wand up as it emulsifies the dressing. Depending on your machine and the emulsification, sometimes the dressing is quite thick. If so, whisk in one tablespoon water at a time until you reach desired consistency.