Tag Archives: roasted garlic

Grilled Caesar Salad: The Classics Revisited

plated 1 625 sqCertain classics should not be tampered with. For example, The Wizard of Oz, as created by Frank L Baum and then interpreted by MGM in 1939, is perfect just the way it is. Why mess with brilliance? Clearly some people disagree with me as evidenced by the 2013 Disney release of Oz: The Great and Powerful, which topped box office records with a whopping 80 million dollars on its opening weekend.

And don’t get me started on the 1998 remake of Parent Trap. The original, released in 1961 was an integral part of my childhood. Suffice it to say, that Lindsay Lohan is no Haley Mills.

However, that being said, some classics need to be updated every once in a while, so they don’t get stale. I am referring to the culinary classics here; just a delicious little twist, an exciting take on the tried and true.

According to Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian, Caesar salad has become the epitome of American mediocrity.  Appearing on virtually every restaurant menu across North America, it is often made with gloppy bottled dressing, packaged croutons, which, while salty and crunchy, still manage to taste like cardboard and canned “Parmesan” cheese, which resembles dust. Surely Caesar Cardini, the creator of the original, would be rolling over in his grave if he ever tasted one of these versions.

Geoffrey Zakarian’s revision of The Classic Caesar Salad is not revolutionary, just utterly delicious! He does not get ridiculous by suggesting that we forgo the croutons altogether and replace them with pan-fried tofu cubes. He just instructs us on how to make the very best crouton. Start with a good quality country Artisan bread. Then, tear the bread, using your hands, into craggy crouton shaped pieces.crouton ingredientsBy tearing the bread, rather than cutting it, you get much more surface area and more little nooks and crannies to get crunchy. Geoffrey recommends frying the croutons in about ½ cup of oil, but I cut the oil in half and recommend just baking the croutons in the oven. They are still quite delicious and very addictive.oil on croutons 2Two kinds of cheese are used in this version. The classic Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is grated finely and mixed into the dressing, as in the original version. Then, Pecorino Romano cheese is shaved on top of the salad, using a vegetable peeler. Parmigiano Reggiano is a cow’s milk cheese, while Pecorino comes from sheep’s milk. Pecorino is tangier, and a bit more assertive than the milder, nutty flavoured Parmigiano.cheese shardsAnchovies were not used in Cardini’s Caesar salad. The original dressing contained Worcestershire sauce, which, I just discovered, does contain anchovies. The addition of anchovies came later, in the 70’s. If you think you don’t like anchovies, just give them a chance in this dressing. Anchovies are an extremely umami rich food. Umami is an almost indescribable fifth taste that takes your eating experience beyond salty, sweet, sour and bitter. Umami can best be characterized as a savory taste. Anchovies give a punch of flavor. They are that secret ingredient that you just can’t put your finger on, the one that really makes the flavour pop.

The punch of garlic in this recipe comes from roasted garlic, which is much sweeter and way less assertive than raw garlic. It adds a lovely mellow flavour.

In Geoffrey’s version of the salad, the lettuce is not torn, but rather whole leaves are arranged on a platter. It is quite lovely this way, but I took it up a notch and grilled my romaine hearts on the BBQ.

Each romaine heart is cut in half lengthwise, drizzled with a bit of olive oil and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. The cut side is placed on the hot grill for a minute or two to get just a hint of smoke and char. Arrange each heart half on a small plate, drizzle with creamy dressing, scatter crunchy croutons on top and finish with some shards of Pecorino Romano of Parmesan.

This knife and fork salad will delight (almost) everyone who tries it. We have had lots of company at our cottage over the past several weeks and I have made this 6 times. My husband happened to be present for all six times. After being married for almost 30 years he knows my habit of finding a dish I love and making it repeatedly until I grow tired of it. After the 5th appearance of Grilled Caesar he very sweetly told me that he really loved it, but could we please have something else tomorrow. Luckily he will not be here this week, so I can make it again for my girlfriend who is coming to visit!

Click here to print recipe for Grilled Caesar Salad.

#40. White Bread Makeover – from Drab to Fab!!

As I turned the page to our next challenge in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice cookbook I was a little disappointed to discover that we would be making white bread.  Now don’t get me wrong here.  I’m not one of those nutrition nuts who never lets anything put whole grains pass her lips.  And I’m not such a food snob that I would never eat regular packaged white bread.  I happen to believe that certain foods call for squishy white bread.  When it comes to a peanut butter and jam sandwich, the softer the bread, the better. 

No, my disappointment stems from the fact that we are nearing the end of the book and it seems kind of anti-climactic to be making  simple white bread so close to the end.  However, the breads are listed alphabetically in this book and so thrilling brioche, ciabatta, cinnamon buns and cranberry walnut celebration bread were at the beginning of the book and white bread comes near the end.  Perhaps Peter Reinhart should have called it Basic White bread?

As I stood at my kitchen counter, trying to muster up the enthusiasm to tackle white bread, my beautiful rosemary plant caught my eye and I had divine inspiration.  I was going to give my white bread a makeover.  You know, like on the cover of all those beauty magazines, where they promise that you can go from drab to fab in 10 minutes! My plain Jane white bread would be transformed into little buns in the shape of knots and topped with poppy and sesame seeds and  coarse salt.  I also planned to make a second batch using buttermilk instead of water in the dough.  These would become rosemary and roasted garlic cloverleaf rolls.

Most white bread recipes are enriched with milk of some sort, as well as egg, butter or oil and some sugar.  I used skim milk powder and water in my first batch.  The added fat came from butter and an egg. 

The dough comes together very quickly in the mixer.  Then it is allowed to ferment for until it doubles in size.  This happened in an hour.  I weighed and divided the dough into 18 equal pieces and formed rolled out 8 inch ropes.  After a 10 minute rest the ropes are twisted into knots.

Making knots is a simple way to dress up plain dinner buns.  Think of it like taking your everyday ponytail and twisting it up into a french knot.  Although my hair is never as cooperative as this dough was.  These knots were a joy to make!

After an hour of proofing time the knots received a thin layer of egg wash and a sprinkling of poppy and sesame seeds and some coarse salt. Fifteen minutes in a hot oven and they were done.  Crunchy on the outside from the seed topping and soft on the inside. 

For my second batch of white bread, Peter Reinhart offers a buttermilk variation.  He admits to being a “buttermilk guy”.  My kind of guy!  And while we’re on the topic of buttermilk, I have a bit of a pet peeve.  Why is buttermilk only sold in 1 litre containers?  I use a cup in the recipe and the rest just goes bad in my fridge.  That is, until I discovered that you can freeze the leftover buttermilk.  So now I can be a buttermilk girl whenever the whim strikes.

To create my little garlic rosemary cloverleaf rolls, I roasted some garlic for about 45 minutes until it was nice and squishy.  I mashed it with a fork and kneaded it into the dough, along with some chopped fresh rosemary.

Once the buttermilk dough had proofed, it was divided into 18 equal pieces.  I used a scale to save my sanity.  Each piece is further divided into 3 and then each little piece is rolled into a ball.  Then the little balls go into greased muffin cups and are set aside for final proofing.

Another hour and they had swollen to fill the pans. I sprinkled them with a bit of chopped rosemary and coarse sea salt.  Into a 400 oven for 12 minutes and they emerged golden brown and adorable.  Almost too cute to eat, but the aroma was too intoxicating to resist.  They were pillowy soft and melted in your mouth.  I really loved them! 

Makeover mission accomplished.  I think our girls were really glamorous!