Imagine Never Having To Buy Caesar Dressing Again!

The best thing for a leftover Sunday lunch roast chicken is chicken sandwich. Marc dreams of his sandwich with mayo, lettuce, tomato, leftover stuffing & chicken. Whereas I love mine with caesar dressing & lettuce on the side.

For me a good caesar dressing needs to have that fine balance of savoury unami, spicy mustard & acidic lemon... mmm...I'm salivating already. It's hard to find this perfect balance fro store-bought dressings. Also, I seldom need a whole bottle of caesar dressing. Very often the leftover goes to waste in the fridge before finally landing in the bin. (or I could have caesar dressing every day of the week till i use it all up! I have done that before)

So, more often than not, I make my own. The dressing will keep well in the fridge for about a week. It's easy, fresh & economical. I make the amount I need & nothing goes to waste.

The first part of the recipe calls for mayonnaise - which we made in the previous post.

(Now if you are using store bought mayonnaise, you can just substitute it with 1 measuring cup of store-bought mayonnaise)

This second part is turning the mayonnaise into the caesar dressing.

The basic formula is:

1 cup mayonnaise : 1/2 cup parmesan cheese : 2 cloves garlic

Once you have the basic formula, you layer the build more depth & flavour into dressing.

Again, it helps to understand the role each ingredient plays in the recipe.

Anchovy, parmesan - adds unami savouriness
Lemon - adds acidity to cut the richness of the dressing
Dijon mustard & garlic - adds a spiciness to it
Worcestershire sauce - adds that warm X-factor depth to the dressing

Ingredients

3-4 anchovy fillets

2 garlic cloves (blanched in boiling water for 1 min to get rid of the flavour of raw garlic))

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I rather like using gruyere too)

Method:

Chop the anchovy & blanched garlic together to make a paste.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the garlic, anchovy paste, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce.
Add in 1 cup of mayonnaise (store-bought or freshly made), Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt and pepper and stir until well combined.
Taste and adjust to your liking.
You can water it down with 1tbsp of water if you prefer your dressing thinner.
Season with salt, pepper & sugar to taste

This is a very simple dressing to make & there are so many ways to use it. Other than with a sandwich or as a full on proper Chicken Caesar Salad, I also use it as an accompaniment to a main protein.

In the picture, I served it on 1/4 lettuce and you can add your choice of protein next to it - anything ranging from steamed chicken to a grilled steak … even grilled mushrooms if you wish!

This move alone adds numerous more dishes to your repertoire without any fuss.

Or you could change it up to a kale caesar salad, use it to dress grilled asparagus, steamed potatoes etc etc etc..

What are some ways you use YOUR caesar dressing?

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