First off, this caesar salad dressing recipe is the one my aunt has been making for years, so I’ve loved it ever since I was a child and have never found a restaurant that could come close (so if you don’t love it as much as I do please at least be nice about it, it’s kind of a family heirloom we’re dealing with here)! But, as I’ve gotten older and actually started cooking I’ve come to appreciate this recipe even more. If you can’t already tell why just by looking at the list of ingredients, take a second and go to any recipe sharing website and do a search for caesar salad…and I guarantee that most of the recipes you’ll find will have anchovies and/or a raw egg as one of the ingredients. Is that weird to anyone else?? I’m sorry if I’m just not “developed” enough, but I have never tasted an anchovy. I’m definitely not saying that I never will, I love trying new things, so maybe I’ll get daring one day…so can’t say that I personally hate anchovies, but I do know a lot of people that do hate anchovies (or refuse to try them), so I just don’t think a dressing that I use frequently should include them…just not the best idea for me. So, if you do like anchovies, go back to the recipe site you just searched (you did it right?) and like I said, I’m sure you’ll find a caesar salad dressing recipe with anchovies without any problems!

Also, as far as the whole raw egg thing goes, no matter how many people tell me that consuming raw eggs is fine, I will always REFUSE to be okay with that. I’ve found a lot of salad dressing recipes with raw eggs in them and I’m sorry but it’s just too weird for me!

So anyway, here’s the recipe, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Caesar Salad

• 5 cloves garlic, minced or pushed through one of those garlic press things
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1/2 c. parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• s&p
• dash cayenne pepper
• romaine lettuce
• bacon bits
• croutons

1. Combine all ingredients (other than lettuce, bacon bits & croutons) and stir until combined. Refrigerate until ready to use…I really like to refrigerate this for a few hours or overnight if I remember!
2. This is one of those salads that you want to stir all together before serving (right now I’m trying to figure out if there’s a specific reason for this or if we all do it that way because that’s how my aunt always did it! Well anyway, that’s how I recommend doing it!). So, chop or tear your lettuce into bite-sized pieces (please don’t do your lettuce so big that people feel they have to cut it with their fork or they have half the piece of lettuce sticking out of their mouth anytime they try to take a bite!). Right before serving, combine lettuce, bacon bits, croutons and dressing until mixed well.
3. Delicious!!

Recommendations:

• garlic: My family LOVES garlic. This many garlic cloves provides for a pretty garlicky dressing. If you don’t want it as strong, don’t use as many garlic cloves. But if you love garlic as much as I do, just go for it baby!
• parmesan cheese: I thought my cousin was crazy when she told me this, but that stuff in the green tube that you buy to sprinkle on top of spaghetti really works best for this recipe. But it’s true. If you try to use “real” grated parmesan cheese, the dressing comes out runny and the flavors don’t mend together as good. With the stuff in the shaker can (you know what I’m talking about right? It looks more like a chunky powder than grated cheese?), the cheese helps bind the dressing together, giving you a thick creamy dressing that is to DIE for!!
• s&p: You definitely want to use fresh ground pepper for this one. Really, you always should use fresh ground pepper instead of the already ground stuff, but definitely want to use it in this recipe!

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