Caesar Salad Lettuce Spears Recipe

Ever since its invention at a Tijuana restaurant around 100 years ago, Caesar salad has been one of the most popular salads in America The tangy, salty, cheesy salad is hearty while remaining light and refreshing, and it has plenty of notes of umami richness to round it out. For occasions where you serve food at a communal table and seating is casual, salad can be a tricky dish to wrangle. Serving the salad as spears, as opposed to a bowl of chopped greens, can be easier to eat than a traditional salad that requires a fork. By keeping the root intact, each spear can be lifted by hand and eaten as is. 

Recipe developer Taylor Murray loves making this dish for a crowd. "Serving salad this way always seems to be a hit whenever I bring it to a barbecue or backyard party," she says. "The secret is swapping the croutons for breadcrumbs, which cling to the dressing and don't need to be pierced with a fork."

To make Caesar salad spears, you need whole heads of romaine with the limp exterior leaves removed — in other words, just the hearts. To make the homemade Caesar dressing, use a combination of Dijon mustard, anchovies in oil, fresh garlic, a whole lemon, an egg yolk, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil.

In lieu of more traditional croutons, Caesar salad spears are better with a crumbly herb breadcrumb topping. This topping has all the crispy-crunchy goodness of a crouton, but it's much easier to eat for this style of salad. These breadcrumbs are made using a fresh hunk of country sourdough bread, olive oil, and chopped dill and parsley.

Heat the oven to 400 F.

Trim the crust off of the sourdough bread.

Break the bread into large chunks and place in the bowl of a food processor.

Pulse until small crumbs form.

Transfer to a small, rimmed baking sheet.

Drizzle with 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil and toss to combine.

Toast until golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes.

Set aside to cool, then toss with the chopped herbs.

In the same food processor as the breadcrumbs, pulse the Parmesan cheese until small crumbs form.

Add the mustard, anchovy, egg yolk, and garlic clove.

Juice 1 lemon into the bowl.

Blend until smooth.

With the motor running, drizzle in the remaining olive oil as slowly as possible.

Transfer the dressing to a small jar, thinning it with water, if needed, to create a pourable consistency.

Prepare the romaine by removing the large outer layers, then trim the root, leaving roughly ⅛ inch intact. Quarter each head of romaine and transfer the quarters to a plate.

To assemble the salad, drizzle the romaine with the dressing.

Grate additional Parmesan cheese over the top, then sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.

Serve, with lemon wedges.

An egg yolk is the secret to creamy sauces and dressings, where it plays a vital role in emulsification. While it is generally considered safe to eat raw eggs for most people, there are those that either can't or won't be able to enjoy anything made using raw egg yolks. Emulsified sauces, including salad dressings, often use egg yolk to help bind the fats in the sauce to the liquids. In the case of Caesar salad dressing, it gets its signature, creamy texture from this bit of culinary magic, which can't be exactly replicated without it. 

You can always make a Caesar-ish vinaigrette by just omitting the egg. The dressing won't get creamy and will separate after sitting for a minute, but it will still have the same flavor profile as any Caesar dressing. If you want that creaminess but can't stomach the idea of consuming raw egg, you can use about ¼ cup of mayonnaise to help start your emulsification. Mayonnaise is also an emulsified sauce that uses egg yolk, but those eggs have been pasteurized and the manufacturer has taken care of all the tricky food handling. 

Caesar salad is often thought of as a vegetarian salad, and it would be without the sneaky anchovies. Anchovies are known for providing a deep and complex hit of umami to a dish, and Caesar salad dressing is no exception. While this isn't an issue for many people, that does make the salad inedible for many following a strict vegetarian diet. Many vegetarians opt to omit the cured fish from the recipe completely, and the dressing can be made without them without needing to make any other ingredient swaps or quantity changes.

If you want to try to substitute some of that umami flavor while still keeping the salad vegetarian, soy sauce can be a great addition. About one teaspoon of soy sauce can replace up to three anchovies in Caesar salad dressing, replicating much of the salt and umami that the fish would otherwise be bringing.