Caesar Salad with Grilled Shrimp

I’m always asked for my Caesar salad recipe but I make it so much by feel and taste that it’s hard to get the measurements exact. I think to make a good Caesar salad you have to be willing to experiment a bit. My biggest pet peeve about Caesar salad dressing is that a lot of restaurants make it with mayonnaise, because no self respecting Caesar salad dressing is made with mayonnaise. The three biggest keys to my Caesar salad dressing are: 1) use a quality wood Caesar salad bowl (mine was purchased at Crate & Barrel back in the day) and it’s seasoned almost as well as my favorite cast-iron skillet, 2) use a high-quality anchovy paste (my favorite is Giovanni’s Anchovy Paste which I purchase at Fresh Market), and 3) several dashes of Frank’s Red Hot gives it a unique and delicious zing. I also like to make homemade parmesan croutons and grill fresh Georgia shrimp and served on top. So here’s my best attempt at sharing my Caesar Salad recipe, but please do experiment with it and make it your own.

Caesar Salad

Ingredients

Anchovy paste – squeeze out 2 inches of paste

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

½ cup olive oil

1 coddled egg

Juice from half of a fresh squeezed lemon

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Several dashes of Frank’s Hot Sauce

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon dry mustard

Ground black pepper to taste

½ cup or more if needed of Parmesan cheese

2 small Romaine lettuce bunches cut into bite size pieces.

Smear the anchovy paste into the wood Caesar salad bowl and rub evenly around the bowl. Add garlic and rub evenly over anchovy paste. Then add coddled egg (make sure to clean the interior of the egg to get the entire contents),  lemon juice, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, Frank’s Red Hot, salt, mustard, and pepper. Whisk well and then taste at this point to see if any of the ingredient measurements need to be increased. If it’s to your liking add Parmesan to achieve a thicker consistency to the dresser. Refrigerate the bowl with the dressing contained until ready to serve. Just before serving add cleaned and chopped romaine lettuce and mix well. Top with croutons, fresh grated Parmesan and grilled shrimp.