СNo other salad can be compared with the popularity of the Caesar salad in Odessa. Once one well-known Odessa restaurateur with a characteristic for Odessa humour tried to bury this salad by organizing on the territory of one of his restaurants a grave with a headstone on which it was written “Caesar salad is buried here”. He removed it from the menus of his restaurants, which helped his competitors, because the salad is still a best-seller and in high demand to this day. Whether you are, out of the blue, the person who has never tasted this legendary salad or its devoted fan, I suggest making it from my recipe.
СNo other salad can be compared with the popularity of the Caesar salad in Odessa. Once one well-known Odessa restaurateur with a characteristic for Odessa humour tried to bury this salad by organizing on the territory of one of his restaurants a grave with a headstone on which it was written “Caesar salad is buried here”. He removed it from the menus of his restaurants, which helped his competitors, because the salad is still a best-seller and in high demand to this day. Whether you are, out of the blue, the person who has never tasted this legendary salad or its devoted fan, I suggest making it from my recipe.- Prep time: 25 minutes + 20 minutes’ marinating
- Cook time: 5 minutes
- Serves: 3
- Difficulty: medium
- Course: salad
- Cookware: salad spinner, egg poacher, timer
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- ½ head of romaine lettuce
- ½ head of iceberg lettuce
- 300 g chicken fillet
- 90 g smoked bacon, thinly sliced
- 3 slices of toast bread
- 3 eggs
- 50 g parmesan, grated
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- freshly ground black pepper
For the dressing:
- 150 ml olive oil
- ½ tbsp Dijon mustard
- ½ yolk
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp dry white wine
- 2 anchovy fillets
- ½ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
Cooking method
Step 1
Slice the chicken fillet along the grain. Transfer into a bowl, add olive oil, pepper, and marinate for 15-20 minutes.
Step 2
Heat the oven to 180˚С. Cut the bread into cubes, pour with olive oil and bake in the oven until golden brown. Tear the lettuces’ leaves into large pieces with your hands, transfer to a bowl and mix.
Step 3
Put the bacon in a dry frying pan and cook over medium heat until fat appears and the bacon is golden brown on both sides. Transfer the bacon from the pan. In the remaining bacon fat, fry the chicken fillet until golden brown. Poach the eggs.
Step 4
Make the dressing. Mince the anchovies. Put mustard, yolk, anchovies, lemon juice, wine, salt, sugar in a bowl, and whisk until smooth. Then, whisking vigorously, gradually add olive oil until the consistency of mayonnaise.
Step 5
Put lettuces, parmesan, croutons in a large bowl, add the dressing and mix. Put on plates. Add bacon, chicken, poached eggs, and serve.
My tips and tricks:
About how to cook the perfect poached egg, you can say: how many people, so many opinions. I’ll tell you my own: the first thing you have to determine is how fresh your egg is. If it is more than 3-4 days old, then you will have to tinker with it. If you are sure of the freshness of the egg, gently break it into a cup so as not to damage the yolk. Pour water into a wide saucepan and bring to boil. Remove the saucepan from heat and gently pour the egg from the cup into the water. There should be as much water in the saucepan so that the “path of the egg” to the bottom from the surface of the water is the shortest, so less whites turn into flakes. Then close the saucepan with a lid and leave for 3-4 minutes. Carefully remove the egg with a slotted spoon and place it in a slotted spoon on a paper towel to drain the water. Then transfer the egg to a plate. In this simple way, you can cook several eggs at the same time. The number of eggs depends on your needs and the width of your pot. The poached egg is ready when the white is completely cooked and the yolk is runny. If you want to achieve the perfect egg shape, then carefully cut off the excess whites. What if you are not sure about the freshness of your eggs? There are 2 options. First, use a special egg poacher. Thanks to it, you will not lose a drop of whites, and the shape of the poached egg will be perfect. Second, before cooking the egg, you need to separate the watery part of the whites. To do this, break the egg into a cup, carefully pour it onto a slotted spoon. After the watery portion of the whites has drained, gently dip the egg into the water with a slotted spoon. Then proceed as with the fresh egg.
- ½ head of romaine lettuce
- ½ head of iceberg lettuce
- 300 g chicken fillet
- 90 g smoked bacon, thinly sliced
- 3 slices of toast bread
- 3 eggs
- 50 g parmesan, grated
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- freshly ground black pepper
- For the dressing:
- 150 ml olive oil
- ½ tbsp Dijon mustard
- ½ yolk
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp dry white wine
- 2 anchovy fillets
- ½ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- Slice the chicken fillet along the grain. Transfer into a bowl, add olive oil, pepper, and marinate for 15-20 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 180˚С. Cut the bread into cubes, pour with olive oil and bake in the oven until golden brown. Tear the lettuces’ leaves into large pieces with your hands, transfer to a bowl and mix.
- Put the bacon in a dry frying pan and cook over medium heat until fat appears and the bacon is golden brown on both sides. Transfer the bacon from the pan. In the remaining bacon fat, fry the chicken fillet until golden brown. Poach the eggs.
- Make the dressing. Mince the anchovies. Put mustard, yolk, anchovies, lemon juice, wine, salt, sugar in a bowl, and whisk until smooth. Then, whisking vigorously, gradually add olive oil until the consistency of mayonnaise.
- Put lettuces, parmesan, croutons in a large bowl, add the dressing and mix. Put on plates. Add bacon, chicken, poached eggs, and serve.