Caesar Salad with Caesar Grilled Chicken

Pup Daddy and I have dabbled in vegetable gardening over the past few years with varying results, mostly poor. This year we finally figured out that in tropical St. Petersburg we needed to start in January, seriously amend our soil, and use drip irrigation on a timer (I have a real problem remembering to water regularly). Voila! It worked. Now I'm searching for ways to use our bumper crop. Right now I need to use lots of Romaine and what better way than Caesar Salad. I'm not kidding you, this was THE BEST Caesar Salad I have ever had, including the those from super fancy restaurants like Bern's Steak house. Even better, it's super easy. You will always want this dressing in your fridge.

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com. The base for the dressing is mayo rather than raw eggs, which makes sense. Mayo is just raw eggs and oil. And yes, there are anchovies in it. If you have an aversion to them, you'll just have to get over it! You absolutely can not have Caesar Salad without them! If you can't make yourself chop them up, you can buy anchovy paste in a tube and squirt it in.

You can use store bought croutons, but fresh ones are very easy to make. Besides, I always seem to have left over bread to use up. For these croutons I used my favorite Fresh Market bread, Rosemary and Sea Salt, but any bread will do. Brown up some garlic in olive oil. Remove the garlic and add the bread, turning it over when it gets brown. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper as soon as you take them out of the pan.

 

For the chicken I marinated bone-in, skin-on thighs in my own Caesar Marinade and cooked it on my gas grill. I love chicken thighs because they have such great flavor and stay moist. You could absolutely use any cut of chicken you like and use your favorite method to cook it.

 

You should seriously try this!!!!

 

Ingredients

 

Chicken

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 TB fresh lemon juice (juice from 1 lemon)

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 TB anchovy paste or minced anchovies

1 TB Worcestershire sauce

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

salt and pepper

 

Salad

6 cloves garlic, peeled

3/4 cup mayonnaise

5 anchovy fillets, minced

6 tablespoonsgrated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup olive oil    

4 cups day-old bread, cubed

1 large head of Romaine, torn into bite sized pieces

 

Directions

Combine oil, lemon juice, garlic, anchovy paste and Worcestershire. Add chicken and marinate from 1 hour to 8 hours. Grill over direct medium heat for 24 minutes flipping half way through cooking.

 

Mince 3 cloves of garlic, and combine in a small bowl with mayonnaise, anchovies, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cut the remaining 3 cloves of garlic into quarters, and add to hot oil. Cook and stir until brown, and then remove garlic from pan. Add bread cubes to the hot oil. Cook, turning frequently, until lightly browned. Remove bread cubes from oil, and season with salt and pepper.

Place lettuce in a large bowl. Toss with desired amount of dressing, remaining Parmesan cheese, and seasoned bread cubes. Serve with grilled chicken.