Ina Garten – Serves 8

My first experience with Cesar Salad was on the island of Oahu at Buzz’s Steak House. Grammie Lambie, my mother, had moved to Oahu in the late 1970s and discovered the iconic restaurant. It was a place with a rich history, having been transformed from a humble beach hut and a dive bar into the beloved establishment it was when we visited. 

The wait staff prepared the salad table-side, using a huge wooden salad bowl. They rubbed it with garlic, broke open a raw egg yolk, smashed in anchovies along with other key ingredients to make the most delicious salad you’ve ever tasted. For me, the crisp romaine lettuce, salty parmesan cheese, and creamy dressing are perfection. The closet recipe I have ever found to recreating Buzz’s Cesar Salad is this one developed by Ina Garten.

Ingredients

• 2 Large heads of romaine lettuce
• 1 Egg yolk (extra-large) at room temperature*
• 2 t Dijon mustard
• 2 Large cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 – 4 Anchovy fillets 
• 1/3 C Lemon Juice (from 2 lemons)
• 2 t Kosher Salt
• ½ t Ground Black Pepper
• 2/3 C Olive Oil
• ½ C Parmesan cheese (freshly grated) for dressing
• 1 C Parmesan cheese for salad

Ingredients for Croutons

• 1 Baguette
• ¼ C Olive oil
• ¾ C Parmesan cheese

Directions

• Wash the lettuce leaves carefully and spin-dry in a salad spinner. Stack the leaves on a cutting board and cut them crosswise into 1 1/2-inch slices. Place them in a large mixing bowl.
• For the dressing, place the egg yolks, mustard, garlic, anchovies, lemon juice, salt, and pepper
• into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until smooth. 
• With the food processor running, slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube (as though you 
• were making mayonnaise, until thick. 
• Add the grated Parmesan cheese and pulse 3 times.
• Toss the lettuce with enough dressing to moisten well. 
• Add 1 cup grated Parmesan and toss. 
• Parmesan Croutons Directions
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Slice the baguette diagonally into ¼ inch thick slices. 
• Lay the slices in one layer on a baking sheet and brush each with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan Bake the toasts for 15 – 20 minutes until they are brown and crisp. 
• If you’re nervous about raw egg yolks, substitute two tablespoons of real mayonnaise