Caesar Salad: A Guest Post by Steve Haines

We are thrilled to feature our dear friend Steve on the blog today. He’s a professional jazz bassist, teacher, hockey player, and has mad cooking skillz. Steve had us over for dinner a couple weeks ago and served this salad with the meal. It knocked our socks off and we immediately requested the recipe. He is so kind to share it with us! The flavor of this caesar is out of this world. It’s better than any restaurant or store bought dressing we’ve had. Take it away, Steve!

MacIsaac Caesar Salad, from Steve Haines

Taught to me from Canadian sailor Captain David MacIsaac, this Caesar salad is extremely rich and can stand alone as a meal in itself. I like this recipe because it doesn’t have anchovies, usually a staple in Caesar salad.

First, mash together the following with a fork:

8-14 cloves of garlic (bring it! The more you add, the more it burns. Ohhh yes)

10-12 capers

ground pepper

Then, add:

Juice from one lemon (a little more if the lemon is young)

1 teaspoon red malt vinegar

2 egg yolks

2 heaping tablespoons Dijon mustard

Once this is mixed up, use ¾ of a cup of extra virgin olive oil… pour 2 tablespoons in with the mixture, then use a an egg beater to froth up the dressing as best you can. The process of beating all of the oil into the mixture should take about 20-30 minutes, if it’s done correctly (There is a foofy name for this process, but I don’t remember it!) If you don’t have time, you can use a hand beater and do it all at once, but it won’t quite be the same. The result should be a thick, somewhat pasty dressing.

From there, add the dressing to Romaine lettuce, destalked and torn into bite sized pieces. You will probably use about half of the dressing for one head of romaine, and all of it for two. The dressing should be liberally added to the lettuce. Add lots of parmesan cheese, and big whole made bread croutons, if you like. I avoid the bacon. As good as it tastes, the new photos and videos out on how pigs are treated at farms have seriously turned me off to pork.

David was out at sea a great deal, but when he came home, his two vices were the Tavern, and this Caesar. It’s not for the faint of heart! I hope you all enjoy it!