Caesar Salad

The romaine in the garden is crisp, full and abundant and for me that means one thing... Caesar salad. Paired up with a juicy grass-fed BBQ'd T-Bone (from my cousin's farm) it's the perfect summer dinner.

I make my dressing from scratch and I like it spicy! The first mouthful always tends to elicit a whooyah from the crowd, but once the steaks are into the mix it's a perfect combo. These are the general fixings for the dressing (plus olive oil and parmesan cheese, of course.)

Ingredients for dressing:
1/4 tsp Dry Mustard
2-3 Anchovies mashed
2-3 cloves of Garlic
3 real good solid shakes of Tabasco
1/2 tsp (or a bit less) of Worcester sauce
Juice of half a lemon
Olive oil (just a little more than the juice you get from the fresh lemon)
1/3 cup grated imported Italian Parmesan

Directions:

Mash your anchovies to a pulp. (You can substitute with paste if you prefer.) Then crush the garlic and add it in. 

Really pulverize the garlic in a mortar and pestle. The flavor explodes out when crushed. It's much more powerful than just using the standard garlic press. Add the mustard, Tabasco, Worcester and lemon and drizzle in enough olive oil to match the lemon juice and stir like crazy to make an emulsion. The dressing should be thick. Adjust oil if needed.

Pour over a bowl of hand-torn romaine (not sliced, never sliced with a knife). Mix until all the lettuce is dressed before adding in the grated parmesan. Serve immediately. Piquant! It'll rock your socks off.

ALTERNATE RECIPE

For the more sensitive palate, reduce ingredients to:

1 anchovie

1 garlic clove

1 shot of Tabasco

dash of Worcester

pinch of dried mustard (or you could use a squirt of dijon)

drizzle of olive oil

1/4 lemon

pulverize altogether in mortar and pestle

the mixture will be a thick brownish yellow

pour over torn Romaine

add sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan

mix and serve cold

croutons optional