Caesar Salad recipe for summer
Star Anise
This classic recipe comes to you without croutons deep-fried in cottonseed oil.
The crispy bacon pieces are my (healthy!) crunchy crouton substitute. This is my daughters’ favourite salad and an easy way to get her to HAPPILY eat eggs. Full of healthy fats and protein, this is a great summer salad or perfect for brunch.
I have allowed 2 eggs per person in this recipe but if you are wanting a more protein-rich meal, feel free to increase the number of eggs to 2.5 or 3 per person.
Ingredients:
Cos (aka romaine) lettuce leaves
4 pastured eggs
1 packet of bacon
2 tablespoons (approx. 20g) Reggiano Parmigiano (parmesan) cheese for sprinkling over salad
Unrefined salt
Cracked pepper
Caesar dressing ingredients:
5 anchovy fillets
4 tablespoons (40g) Reggiano Parmigiano (parmesan) cheese
2 cloves (10g) garlic
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/3 cup of extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
Directions:
Finely grate 60g Reggiano Parmigiano (parmesan) cheese in Thermomix (speed 9, 15 seconds) or hand grater. Put aside 40g for the dressing and 20g for sprinkling over the salad.
Hard boil the eggs by carefully lowering eggs into a saucepan of boiling water, simmering for exactly 8 minutes then straining and running them under plenty of cold water before peeling.
While the eggs are boiling, dice bacon and add to a very hot frying pan (no need to add any oil or fat as bacon is fatty enough) and sauté until crispy, stirring frequently. Alternatively, you can add diced bacon to an oven tray lined with baking paper and bake uncovered at 200C for 25 minutes or until crispy.
To make the Caesar dressing, process in Thermomix (speed 6, 20 secs) or in a small bowl with stick blender all of the dressing ingredients other than the olive oil. Once smooth, slowly drizzle the olive oil with the Thermomix or stick blender still running. If it’s too thick add a little more lemon juice.
Roughly chop the lettuce leaves and arrange in a serving dish. Cut eggs in half and arrange over the lettuce. Scatter the salad with the diced crispy pastured bacon pieces. Drizzle salad with Caesar dressing, sprinkle with additional grated Reggiano Parmigiano (parmesan) cheese, and season generously with cracked pepper and with a small amount of unrefined salt (if any) as bacon and parmesan are salty enough.
Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side.