Community Pick
Kittencal's Famous Caesar Salad
"I developed this dressing years ago, and I can honestly say that you won't be able to keep your spoon out of the fridge for a taste, it is *that* good! --- although I do think the dressing is better with the anchovy it can certainly be made without them. In a pinch I have even substituted buttermilk for the half and half cream, just use about the same amount --- this dressing gets stronger with refrigeration time so a small amount of fresh garlic goes a long way! ---- usually one recipe without doubling is perfect for one large romaine lettuce, if you are serving a large crowd of people you might want to double -- salad dressing will not work for this use *only* mayonnaise, I find Hellman's brand mayonnaise works the best and for the perfect companion to this salad see my recipe#125034-------------LOWER-FAT OPTION use reduced fat mayonnaise and fat-free half and half or low-fat milk --- also see my recipe#66596"
photo by Loves2Teach
- Ready In:
- 5mins
- Ingredients:
- 14
- Serves:
-
4-6
ingredients
- 1 large head romaine lettuce (washed over and thoroughly dried)
- 1 1⁄2 cups garlic-flavored croutons (or to taste, see Kittencal's Garlic Croutons)
- parmesan cheese
- freshly grated black pepper (to taste)
-
DRESSING
- 2 anchovy fillets (or to taste)
- 2 fresh garlic cloves (or to taste)
- 1 cup mayonnaise (not salad dressing Hellman's is best)
- 1⁄4 cup half-and-half cream or 1/4 cup milk
- 1⁄3 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (Hellman's Dijonnaise is best!)
- salt and pepper
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (or to taste) (optional)
- buttermilk or half-and-half, for thinning
directions
- In a small 2-cup mini food processor, process/mince the anchovy fillets and garlic together until finely minced (do this together and firstly, otherwise it will not get minced properly with the other ingredients).
- Add in the remaining ingredients, and process for 30 seconds, or more until well mixed.
- Adjust seasonings to taste.
- Thin with buttermilk (or milk) for a thinner consistency if desired.
- Store in fridge, covered in a glass container for 3 or more hours before using (the flavors become stronger when left in the fridge for a longer time).
- Toss desired amount of dressing with Romaine lettuce and croutons.
- Sprinkle with more grated Parmesan cheese if desired.
Questions & Replies
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Reviews
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Soooooooo delicious! I was craving a Caesar salad and this recipe fit the bill. I made it low-fat by using low-fat mayo and faftree half-and-half. I also used anchovy paste in a tube--one tbsp. full. Initially, I thought that the dijon mustard overwhelmed the taste of the dressing, but after it had a chance to meld for a few hours the taste was perfect. I am dipping cucumber spears into the leftovers as we speak! I will never buy bottled Caesar dressing again. Thanks for posting! -
Another Kittencal triumph! It was fabulous, my chicken caesar was better than any restaurant. Just so this might be helpful to others, I also was craving deviled eggs. Made one using the dressing to mash the yolk... so yum! Thanks again, K! -
Do we need another 5 star review? You bet! This was great...easy to make and delicious. I made it without anchovy because guests were vegetarian, but wonderful none the less.
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I'm not going to lie - I was terrified of the anchovies. But I worked through it and I'm very glad that I did. This dressing had a great authentic taste and was very creamy and tasted wonderful. I used two anchovy filets and since they were pretty salty, I chose to leave out the additional salt. I used a little over a teaspoon of the worcestershire sauce and I'm glad that I added that in. I made this the day before and all the flavors had a chance to meld together. Everyone loved this. Try it with the anchovies - I promise you won't regret it! -
When I was looking for a Caesar dressing recipe, your's was the first to come up so, naturally, I looked no further. It is wonderful. I grated the Parm myself so to others who grate their Parmesan and end up with a fluffy cheese, make sure to pack it into the cup when measuring or else the end product will be weaker than intended.<br/><br/>I cooked this recipe http://www.food.com/recipe/4-minute-spicy-garlic-shrimp-107997 to go with my salad (minus the Montreal Seasoning) and the combination was a Ten Star Meal for sure.<br/><br/>Great recipe, once again. I made this again with Fish Sauce instead of anchovies. Used a teaspoon of yellow mustard and a splash of white wine vinegar instead of dijon. It was still so so so so good. I could just eat it with a spoon... .or on my shoe... it's THAT GOOD.
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Tweaks
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for those having second thoughts making this, I triple the ingredients of this recipie and save the sauce in large jar to add it to some lettuce whenever I want for 2 whole weeks, its easy and amazing! better than resturaunts. My difference is I omitt the anchovies and salt (cause parmesan is salty enough), I add oregano instead. Oh, and I use toast too (cause I don't like much of garlic in my salad), just put it in a toaster till its golden then cut it into tiny cubes. -
Dear Kittencal, I love your recipes but I must say some of them are too decadent for me. I have to avoid butter and cream for health reasons. Here I used another recipe #36134 for croutons (it had olive oil instead of butter) and in your dressing I used only milk (no half-and-half) plus 1/2 cup of mayo instead of 1. I didn't thin the dressing. In the end I found it was still a bit too creamy/too much (I don't like my salads dripping of dressing) but I guess this is due to the fact that the lettuce was maybe smaller than the one you used. The taste was awesome though and my DH took two helpings more. I will be making this again for sure! Thanks for posting, for a long time I've been eating caesar salad only in restaurants and wondering what the taste of a home made ceasar salad would be! -
WOW. This is going straight into my best of the best file. I loved the dressing!!! It was perfect with the romaine and croutons. I did use anchovy paste instead of anchovy filets. I ended up using about 1 t. of the paste. I didn't think the dressing needed any more salt. It was perfect. Thank you! -
This truly lived up to all expectations! I made this exactly as posted (except I used buttermilk instead of half-and-half or milk) but tripling the ingredients for the dressing. I ended up with more than enough dressing to use on quadrupled salad ingredients, with plenty left over. I added some halved grape tomatoes to the salad (for color) and brought this to my annual church picnic. It was a real hit! I will definitely make a batch of the dressing again to have on hand! Also, instead of using grated parmesan on the salad, I used some nice shredded parmesan. Thanks for another perfect recipe, Carol! -
Can't believe I haven't rated this before. It's THE best. Used to make it with Worcestershire instead of anchovies (since I don't usually have anchovies around and Worcestershire contains anchovies) - but yesterday I bought some just for this (and left out the W-sauce). Can't say which is better - it's wonderful both ways. Thank you for this and your other recipes, Kittencal!
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