cae sal(s)
hi friends, lovers + people probably related to me -
52 - did you miss me, yes or yes?
this little hiatus of goes well with was only supposed to be a week or so… i was in a bit of a weird slump about turning 27, about writing these for a year, about ~ gestures to everything ~
i consumed a lot of good things during the lil break + maybe i’ll wax poetic about those another time when i’m not sure what to cook or read or see and want to remember those last weeks of august but for now — this is all there is
we should totally just stab caesar
like most suburban teenage girls i spent a lot of time in panera: the post irish dance class dinners, study groups, coffee dates w/ crushes et. al. i would usually order a you pick 2: chicken caesar salad + tomato soup & honestly up until a few months ago i had kind of forgotten about the caesar salad — it was something i had at my parents with italian food and kens bottled dressing, or ordered @ blackberry market lunch dates with my sisters.
it wasn’t something i particularly sought out or craved though molly baz made me want to, rather something that was passively enjoyed. one night in early may though it sounded really good — a homemade you pick 2 + a couple of glasses of dry white wine on ice felt both nostalgic and like i was pretending to be a gem. this summer i couldn’t pick one cae sal so you get two suggestions — go ahead chose your own adventure
INGREDIENTS FOR THE DRESSING
2 egg yolks or a few tablespoons of mayo if raw egg yolks freak you out
4-6 anchovies (use the rest to make some shallot pasta)
olive oil
canola oil
garlic
parm
lemon
dijon
salt + pepper
STEPS FOR THE DRESSING
you can do this by hand or with a food processor — both yield fairly similar results but i’m team food processor honestly because it’s faster and i can be incredibly impatient. you’ll need to drop your egg yolks into the food processor, 4-6 chopped up anchovies, 1 clove of grated garlic, the juice of half a lemon, salt + pepper, a hefty teaspoon of dijon mustard, 1/4 cup of canola oil + 1/4 cup of olive oil - blend until fully emulsified. taste, add in a generous amount of parm + some more black pepper and the other half of the lemon - blend + taste again. sit in the fridge to chill - this is def a thick dressing so that’s why you need some hearty greens like kale
INGREDIENTS FOR THE SALAD - non negotiables*
romaine
kale (2 kinds both curly + dinosaur if you can find it)
parm
lemon
salt + pepper
*this is a reminder to plz season your lettuce + greens pre-dressing/combining whatever otherwise your salad will be sad
INGREDIENTS FOR THE SALAD - the bougie salad chain ripoff - goes well with virtual book club, glass(es) of wine + a new girl palate cleanser
crispy chicken cutlets (recipe(ish) thing found here)
oven dried tomatoes (all you do is a take a bunch of lil tomatoes coat them in olive oil, salt + pepper - roast them in the oven @ 300 or so for an hour or more once they start to pouf up a bit burst them and roast them a little longer and store them in all the olive oil tomato(y) goodness
INGREDIENTS FOR THE SALAD - the classic - goes well with mozzarella sticks + an early-mid aughts chick flick teen movie marathon
lemony grilled chicken (chicken breasts or tenders marinated in a bunch of lemon juice, olive oil, salt + pepper) then grilled
homemade garlicky croutons (no recipe recipe found here)
as always,
mk