Caesar Salad In a Glass – No Forks Needed!

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Makes 1 cup of dressing          Difficulty Level: Easy +

Dressing

  • ½ teaspoon anchovy paste – can be found at grocery stores, usually in the canned tuna isle
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1-2 tablespoon mayonnaise
  • ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • ¾ cup olive oil

Salad

  • Romaine lettuce hearts – see below notes for amount
  • 1/3 of a Baguette
  • olive oil for brushing
  • 1 clove of garlic, cut in half
  • Parmigiano Reggiano, about 2 ounces or 1/3 cup

Notes:

  • You typically will use more dressing if making individual servings. If making a full salad in a bowl, you most likely will not use all the dressing.
  • The same is true with romaine lettuce. You will need about 3-4 hearts to make about 6-8 individual servings because you will use just the smaller leaves in the center. If making a full salad in a bowl, about 2 romaine hearts will serve 3-4 people as a side salad.
  • Classic Caesar dressing is made with anchovy filets, mashed with a fork. It also does not have mayonnaise. The creaminess comes from a raw egg yolk.

Caesar salad at Amy's

Instructions:

Put all ingredients except the olive oil in a small bowl and whisk together until well combined. Drizzle the olive oil in a steady but slow stream while whisking constantly. This will help emulsify the dressing.

Alternatively, put all ingredients in a mason jar, cover with the lid and shake vigorously until all ingredients are combined.

Wash and separate the lettuce leave, using only the smaller leaves that will fit in your individual serving dish.

Slice the baguette in exaggerated bias cuts. Brush one side with a little olive oil and toast in the toaster until crunchy. Alternatively, toast them in a 375° oven for about 3-4 minutes.

Once cool enough to handle, rub the oiled side of each slice with the glove of garlic. Remember, don’t go crazy! You just need to 2-3 strokes.

To assemble your individual salads, place about 1 tablespoon of dressing on the bottom. Pick 2-3 of the best leaves for each serving dish and dip the bottom in the dressing.

Put one slice of toasted baguette in each dish, and finish with some grated or shaved Parmigiano Reggiano.

Variations:

  • As mentioned before, you can use this recipe and make a full salad in a bowl. You can still make the “croutons” the same way as described above and just crumble them into pieces in your salad
  • Add a cut piece of grilled chicken breast for each serving.

Do Ahead:

  • The dressing can be made up to 7-8 days ahead. In fact, when you are making it, why not make a double batch. That way you have fresh salad dressing all week.
  • The lettuce can be washed, and leaves separated one day ahead. To keep them crisp, loosely wrap the leaves in a damp paper towel, put in a plastic bag and keep in the fridge. Do not close the top of the bag. Give the lettuce a chance to breathe.
  • The croutons can be made up to one day ahead. If they get stale, pop them in the toaster to reheat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Orzo Salad & Grilled Shrimp

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A light and refreshing meal for those warm Summer nights

Outdoor movie night by the beach calls for this kind of picnic! And the best part? They were showing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. IMG_0154

Summer Orzo Salad

Serves 4-6          Difficulty Level: easy peasy

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Ingredients:

  • 8 oz orzo pasta, about 2 ¼ cups
  • ½ cup Kalamata olives, sliced in quarters, lengthwise
  • 1/3 cup chopped red onions, about ½ of a small onion
  • ¼ cup chopped, fresh herbs, I used tarragon and basil
  • 1 cup chopped tomatoes
  • ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
  • ¾ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Instructions:

Cook the orzo in salted, boiling water until soft. When cooking pasta for a salad, I like to cook it a little longer than al dente, for a more delicate texture. Drain and set aside to cool. Click here for a video on how to properly cook pasta

Once cool, toss with the olives, red onions, fresh herbs, tomatoes, and feta.

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For the dressing, whisk all ingredients together. The dressing makes about 1 cup. You won’t need it all, but it’s always nice to have home-made dressing in the fridge. Dress the pasta salad so it is flavorful and glistening, but not pooling at the bottom of the bowl.

Serve at room temperature or cold.

Variations:

  • Add some shredded roasted chicken to make it a heartier meal
  • Add herbs like thyme, parsley, chives, dill, oregano, lemon thyme, or mint. Almost any herb you like, but I don’t recommend rosemary. The leaves are too tough and the flavor too overpowering for this dish.
  • Make it a roasted vegetable pasta salad!
  • Add cucumbers for a little extra crunch. Or how about some nuts?
  • Add some arugula or other lettuce

Do Ahead:

  • The dressing can be made up to 2 weeks ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator.
  • The pasta can be cooked, drained, and tossed with a little olive oil about 2 days ahead and kept refrigerated.
  • The finished salad can be refrigerated up to 4 days. It will even taste better as it sits.
  • Everything but the herbs that need to be chopped, can be chopped one day ahead and kept in separate containers or sealed bags.
  • Anybody know why you shouldn’t chop herbs ahead of time?

 

Grilled Shrimp

Serves  4-6          Difficulty level: easy-medium

Appetizers

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound large shrimp
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground, cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1-2 limes and/or a few sprigs of cilantro for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

Take the shells off the shrimp, leaving the tail on.

Toss the shrimp with the rest of the ingredients until well coated. Let it sit for 1/2 hour to 1 hour at room temperature. Letting it sit in the marinade longer than one hour will start to break apart the proteins in the shrimp and will make it mushy. Not a fun texture to eat!

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While waiting for the shrimp to soak up all the great flavors of the marinade, turn on your grill to medium-high.

When ready, place the shrimp on the grill and cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side, depending on the size of the shrimp, or as soon as it turns pink. You will notice in the picture I have below that some are still a little gray. If I left it on the heat until that whole side of shrimp was pink before I flipped it, it would have been overcooked. I relied on the residual heat while cooking the flip side to cook them through.

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Take the shrimp off the grill and place on a plate. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and let sit for about 3-5 minutes. This is called “resting”.

Garnish with lime wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Variations:

  • Add different spices like cumin
  • Make a seafood mixture with shrimp and scallops or lobster
  • Serve them on skewers

Do Ahead:

  • Hmmmm…sorry, no luck guys here for this recipe. It can sit at room temperature for 1-1.5 hours after it’s grilled.

 

For the picnic, I put the salad and shrimp in Chinese Takeout boxes for easy transportation and eating. And it looked pretty cool too.

And if you can enjoy this meal while on the beach, sipping some wine, and watching this movie, then all the better! I recommend it.