In this modern age, people are scared of raw eggs so doing a traditional caesar dressing is hard.
Here are a couple of safe quick home alternatives to the store-bought stuff.
Version 1
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- juice 1/2 a lemon
- couple of anchovies filets minced (adjust to your preference)
- couple of cloves of garlic minced (adjust to your love of garlic)
- 1/2 tsp of capers minced (adjust to your preference)
- 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard to taste
- Dash of Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
- grated parmesan or pecorino cheese to taste
- grated lemon peel from the 1/2 lemon.
Whisk everything together in a bowl, taste and toss into your Ceasar fixings. I personally like about 1 anchovy fillet per person, 1 clove of garlic per person, and a couple of caper berries per person. Measurements are all approximate as I normally do this to taste. Sometimes I will also add a splash of a good red wine vinegar with the lemon juice, give it a little more "traditional taste".
Version 2
- 1/3 cup of EVO
- 4 tbsp of red wine vinegar
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
- 3 or 4 anchovy filets
- 1/2 tsp of capers
- 1 tblsp of Dijon mustard
- Dash of Worcestershire sauce
- 2 hard-boiled egg yolks
- Salt and pepper to taste
- grated parmesan or pecorino cheese to taste
Place everything except the oil into a blender or food processor and give it a blitz. Drizzle in the oil until you have a mayonnaise consistency. Adjust flavours per your preferences. The use of the boiled yolks was inspired from a Lidia Bastianich technique. If it is too thick, add a little more vinegar or lemon, a little too thin, whiz in more oil.
I personally use the first version the most at home, but both get the job done well. I like some of the cheese in the dressing, not just tossed into the salad.
More Later
-- G