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Recipes | Crisp Romaine "Caesar" with Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette
Suggested Pairings | Callaway 2005 Winemaker's Reserve Opera d'Arte
Ingedients:
1 large head of Romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
1 clove of minced garlic
1 tbsp of Dijon mustard
The rind of 1 preserved lemon, minced
(Substitute the juice of two lemons if desired)
1 pasteurized egg yolk
6 oz of rice wine vinegar
1 cup canola-olive oil blend
2 oz Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 cup toasted herb croutons
Marinated White Anchovy, add to your taste
Salt and fresh ground Pepper, also to taste
Notes:
There are four stages to making this salad: Making the dressing, shaving the Parmigiano, toasting the croutons, and chopping the lettuce. Preserved lemons are easy to prepare, though time consuming. Place freshly picked lemons in a bowl, and cover them w/ kosher salt. Set aside in your cupboard, sealed w a lid if you like, though uncovered is better. They are in a curing process, the moisture extracted for preservation purposes. Preserving lemons/citrus dates back thousands of years, and is often associated w/ Northern African Cuisine. It takes about 2 months to reach a preserved state. You can also shorten the time needed by cutting the lemon into smaller pieces, or scoring the lemon, leaving it intact, and then pack it in the salt.
Directions:
1) To prepare the dressing, place in a food processor: the egg yolk, mustard, garlic, preserved lemon and vinegar. Puree the ingredients until smooth. Next, drizzle the oil into the processor until the ingredients emulsify. The dressing should be creamy like a mayonnaise. Season w/ salt and pepper to your liking.
2) To shave the Parmigiano, take a block of cheese and “peel” it with a potato peeler into ribbons.
3) For croutons take any day old bread, baguette would work best, cut into cubes and toss in a bowl w/ olive oil and chopped herbs such as basil, tarragon, parsley, thyme or whatever you like. Season w/ salt and pepper and toast in a sauté pan on the stovetop on a low to medium flame. Stir the croutons as needed to toast evenly, add more oil if needed.
4) Take a head of romaine, clean off the tough outer leaves, if needed, and chop into 2 inch cubes. Wash in cold water, drain excess water until dry. You can also incorporate other lettuces into the salad if you like, radicchio, watercress, escarole all would work well.
5)
To finish the salad, place the Romaine, croutons, cheese, anchovies and dressing into a bowl and toss until the lettuce is coated.
Serves 4.
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