This Caesar dressing breaks most every rule of the
classic recipe and dispenses with several key ingredients, and yet, after taking
a bite, you’ll identify it immediately.
It borrows the things we love most about Caesar: the
anchovy, the garlic, the Worcestershire, and the bright acidity—although here
instead of lemon it comes from red wine vinegar and Tabasco. Pecorino—whose
funkiness fits in well here—takes the place of Parmesan. The egg and oil are
replaced with jarred Hellmann’s, or Best Foods, mayo. Nothing about this seems
like a good idea.
It’s appropriate that this heretical and fiercely
convenient recipe comes from Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronuovo—known colloquially as the Franks—founders of a
small New York restaurant empire built on neoclassical Italian-American comfort
food.
You make the dressing in the blender (no mincing, no
whisking) and there is no egg, so you can keep it in the fridge all week, using
it on any salad and any random crudité-like snack, on roasted vegetables and
sandwiches and pizza. You can take it to work for lunch, or serve it at picnics
and barbecues without worry. But, most importantly, these are all things you
will want to do, because the dressing—incorrect as it
may be—is awfully good.
Serves 4 to 6
3 hearts of romaine
(pull away the floppiest, greenest outer leaves)
⅓ cup (35g) grated Pecorino
Romano, plus additional for serving
½ cup (110g) Hellmann’s
mayonnaise
¼ cup (60ml) water, plus more as
needed
1½ teaspoons red wine
vinegar
1 clove garlic
2 anchovy fillets
¼ teaspoon Worcestershire
sauce
¼ teaspoon Tabasco
sauce
8 turns freshly ground white
pepper
Fine sea salt, if
needed
Freshly ground black
pepper
1 Trim the root ends from the romaine, separate the
leaves, and wash and dry them. Put the lettuce in the fridge to chill while you
prepare the dressing.
2 Combine ¼ cup (25g) of the Pecorino with the
remaining ingredients (except the black pepper) in a blender and puree until the
dressing is smooth. (If you don’t have a blender, mince the garlic and anchovy,
and whisk them together with the rest of the dressing ingredients.) Taste and
add salt if necessary; the cheese, Hellmann’s, Worcestershire, and anchovies are
all salty, so you probably won’t need any additional salt. Loosen the dressing
with more water as needed.
3 Toss the chilled lettuce with the dressing in a large
bowl. Transfer to serving plates or a serving platter and finish with a generous
crowning of the remaining grated cheese and a few turns of black pepper. Serve
at once
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