Caesar salad. Doesn’t everyone just love it? To me, Caesar salad is a salad for people who don’t really like salad. It’s like the salad exception. You can get a Caesar salad nearly everywhere – it’s the salad that most places have, because people love the stuff. It’s not fussy, has very few ingredients, and you can throw one together in under 5 minutes. Add some protein and you have a complete meal.
The protein in this meal Caesar salad is beef, and this recipe swaps parmesan cheese for blue cheese.
A very special thank you to my very good friend Sarah for sharing her family’s recipe for the Caesar vinaigrette. Sarah, I love the food brainstorming we do on our regular walks. I look forward to many more lovely conversations on the trail. Thank you for sharing your recipe with me.
A personal story about blue cheese…
When I first met my husband, he had never tried blue cheese. I had just started to develop a love of the stuff, after being introduced to it by one of my former employers (clearly a fantastic person to work for). My former boss had introduced me to St-Agur blue cheese, one of the creamiest and loveliest blue cheeses you’d ever want to meet. I fell in love. I wanted to share this love of blue with my then-new-boyfriend. After a couple of glasses of wine, I convinced him to give it a go. Let’s just say it wasn’t exactly love at first bite. But over the course of the next couple of years, he REALLY developed a taste for blue, first Bresse Bleu (a cross between brie and blue) and now he absolutely loves the stuff. Not just St-Agur and Bresse either – my husband loves all of the blues.
Naturally, I remind him that I introduced the two of them regularly.
“If you hadn’t met me, you would never have discovered your love of blue cheese.”
Because really, life just isn’t complete without blue cheese.
One night, we decided that a Caesar salad with steak on it would be a brilliant idea. And while we’re at it, let’s put blue cheese on it. And we’ll use a vinaigrette.
Here is the result of that lovely idea – a salad not for the faint of heart. A salad for a meat eater that makes your mouth come alive. It’s a mix of very aggressive flavours, so don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you love bold, tangy vinaigrette, pungent blue, and a nice steak, you will adore this salad. Add croutons if you’d like, but it’s great without them.
[Recipe] Caesar Vinaigrette
Makes about 1/2 cup
1 Tbsp anchovy paste
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper (optional)
Do not be afraid of anchovies. Really. They’re just salty little fishes. They’re wonderful. I had to use anchovy filets this time, since I was out of anchovy paste.
I just broke up a couple of filets with a fork.
Put all ingredients in a bowl and whisk well, until smooth.
[Recipe] Blue Caesar Salad
Makes 2 generous main dish salads
2 romaine hearts, torn or chopped (or 1 large head romaine)
8 oz sirloin steak, cooked
3 oz blue cheese, crumbled
2 cups croutons (optional)
Caesar Vinaigrette, recipe above
Grill your steak to desired doneness. We like our steak somewhere around a medium doneness. My husband grills great steaks.
Assemble your salad – greens, steak, crumbled blue. We also took the liberty of adding some crispy onions.
Enjoy. Since coming up with this salad, it’s become a regular menu item for us, especially in the summer. Hope you like it!
Caesar Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp anchovy paste
- 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
- juice of 1/2 lemon about 2 Tbsp
- 1 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper optional
Instructions
- Put all ingredients in a bowl and whisk well, until smooth.
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