Caesar Salad with Black Garlic Dressing
Classic dishes become classics because they bring on a sense of comfort, a sense of familiarity, and most importantly they bring about fond memories and flavors. However, one great way to keep things interesting and to have new experiences is to tweak these recipes and see if it makes something taste even more exciting.
Today, I will be taking one of the most classic and well recognized salads anywhere in the world, the Caesar salad, and giving it a unique and flavorful spin. Classically, a Caesar salad is made up of romaine lettuce, croutons, parmesan cheese, and a hearty, gutsy garlic and anchovy dressing. We all know it, we all love it, and chances are you’ve been buying the dressing from a bottle.
Here’s where my twist comes in, I’m going to take out the traditional raw garlic that calls Caesar dressing home, and instead use a soft, fermented form of garlic referred to as black garlic. Black garlic is not burnt garlic, mind you, black garlic is a fermented garlic, as I said, is a lot more soft and mellow than the raw stuff, but has a wonderful fermented flavor and dark color that, I think, will make for a delicious Caesar dressing.
Also, unlike regular Caesar dressing where you’re messing around with egg yolks and getting an emulsion, I’m going to share a cheat version that I like to make at home that involves doctoring up some store bought mayonnaise. I mean, I might as well considering how expensive eggs are these days.
Let’s get it!
For the Croutons:
2 cups stale bread cubes
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
For the Dressing:
1 whole bulb of black garlic (1 ounce)*
2 anchovy filets in oil, rinsed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
For the Salad:
2 large heads of romaine lettuce
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano
*A whole head of garlic might sound insane, but keep in mind that black garlic is a lot more mellow and doesn’t have that spicy sharpness that raw garlic has.
Preheat your oven or air fryer to 350 degrees.
For the croutons, toss the bread cubes with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake/air fry for about 15-20 minutes, or until the bread is toasty all around. Leave to cool.
To make the dressing, break up the black garlic bulb into individual cloves. Discard the skin of the black garlic, then use the side of a knife to mash the black garlic and anchovy filets into a paste.
Add the black garlic paste to a large salad bowl, then add in the remaining dressing ingredients, whisk to combine and season to taste.
Cut the romaine heads into quarters, cut each quarter into bite-sized pieces and make sure to wash the lettuce then spin dry in a salad spinner.
Toss the lettuce with the dressing and half of the croutons in the bowl to coat. Top with the remaining croutons and a shower of grated cheese then serve.
(Actually, I like to let my Caesar salad sit for about 5 minutes after dressing, I find that the flavor of the dressing sinks into the lettuce a bit better, but that’s your call.)
