By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net

Did you know that the famous Caesar Salad takes less than 10 minutes to prepare?

With the rising food prices, it seems more economical to prepare dishes such as this famous appetizer, which can also be a fulfilling snack.

A quick history: the Caesar salad was credited to Italian-born Mexican Caesar Cardini. There are several theories as to how the salad was invented. Some historians, citing Cardini’s daughter as source, say the salad was invented when kitchen supplies were depleted in 1924. Another group recounts that the salad was made for aviators that were comrades of Cardini’s brother. Thus it is sometimes called the “Aviator’s Salad.”

The authentic Caesar salad recipe uses romaine lettuce and croutons with dressing made of Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil and egg. Some recipes add small bacon strips.

For the garnish, prepare the following ingredients:

63 grams white bread, cut into cubes
45 grams butter
50 grams bacon

For the Caesar dressing, make sure you have:

2 grams garlic paste
2 pieces anchovies
2 grams Dijon mustard
60 ml lemon juice
125 ml olive oil
Pinch of white pepper
20 grams Parmesan cheese
1 piece egg
300 grams romaine lettuce

Here are the steps:

1. Coddle the egg for 1 minute in boiling water and set aside. Trim the edge of the bread and cut into cubes.
2. Coat the bread with butter and put in the pan. Pan-fry until crispy and golden brown.
3. On a separate fan, fry bacon until crispy and golden brown in color. Set aside for garnish.
4. In a chopping board, mash the garlic into paste.
5. Do the same with the anchovies.
6. In a bowl, put the garlic paste, anchovies, lemon juice, mustard and white wine vinegar. Add egg yolk and a little bit of the egg white. Gradually add the olive oil while whisking until thick enough.
7. Season to taste.
8. Toss the romaine salad.
9. Garnish with croutons, bacon and parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!