One of my favorite things to eat is Caesar Salad. I have been making my own croutons for years and have spent quite a bit of time trying different creamy Caesar salad dressings. My two favorite bottled Salad Dressings are definitely Kraft Creamy Caesar (not the "Free," supposedly healthier version) and Cardini's Caesar Salad Dressing. Both of these dressings are excellent and have made many delicious salads that I have served in my home. However, as my close friends and family know. something happened to my taste buds recently. I have become sensitive to lots of preservatives in my foods. Foods that I used to love and enjoy such as canned black bean soup, certain bottled salad dressings and boxed brownie mix are now very irritating and "chemically" tasting. This may be a result of my generally eating healthier. It may just be a change in my taste buds for a variety of other reasons. Whatever the cause, I decided this is definitely for the best. I have been working hard and making my own butter, my own bread, my own soups and now my own salad dressing. It is a slow process, but an enjoyable one.
This recipe is from cooks.com and was posted by Shannon. You can find the recipe here:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1615,142189-245199,00.html
Now, this caesar dressing uses mayo. One time when I made the dressing, I did use my own homemade mayo. I found that it wasn't amazingly different than when I used the regular, full-fat may I found in the store. (Yes, the mayo in the store has more preservatives, but for some reason, this hasn't quite bothered my taste buds yet.) I did also decide to attempt this recipe with a healthier, low fat mayo. After attempts with generic "light" mayo and with Smart Balance mayo, I have decided that this recipe does not lend itself to "lighter" mayonnaise (but perhaps this is my preservative-sensitivies kicking in again...). One great thing about this recipe is that you need VERY little to make a nice big caesar salad. When I would make caesar salad for Awesome Sauce, Junky Monkey and me, I would usually need between 4 and 6 TBSP of bottled dressing in order to caot the leaves. With this recipe, I only need between 2 and 3 TBSP. With this dressing, the total caloric load of my Caesar Salad has significantly lessened.
So, for this recipe I once again use my beautiful Magic Bullet knock-off blender. I start with a garlic clove, lemon, Worcestershire, cracked black pepper, and salt. Once this is blended, I add mayo and shredded parmesean cheese. Once this is done, your ceasar salad dressing will keep in the fridge for a few weeks. Reviews from friends and family have been outstanding. I strongly recommend this recipe.
Here are a few pictures:
Dressing in the Blender.
Making a beautiful Caesar Salad!
Ratings:
The Clumsy Gourmet: 10
Awesome Sauce: 9
Junky Monkey: 9 (she found it a bit garlicky)
Guest Taster K thought that this was the best caesar dressing she had ever tasted. (I made sure to send her home with one). Guest Taster S wanted the recipe before leaving my home. I would say that this one is a winner.
I find that using fresh garlic in dressings like caesar can leave the eater with garlicky dragon breath for the rest of the day -- so I've started substituting in jarred garlic. I like Christopher Ranch's crushed garlic, but if you're not as lazy as I am you could probably roast/crush your own and keep it in the fridge or freezer (and avoid the preservatives). Whatever they do to preserve jarred garlic gets rid of the garlic burn while leaving some of the flavor and sweetness -- perfect when you need it raw. I've been using it in all my homemade dressings lately and it's worked great.
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