THE NEW ENGLAND ASTER KITCHEN
48. HAIL, CAESAR!
This is a journey of authenticity and imagination. However it comes out, I know that it’s going to be a killer dinner. Carol Ann and I can’t wait to sit in front of the fire and dig into what’s coming.
• a really fresh romaine
• a nice firm radicchio
• a nice hunk of Parmigiano Reggiano from Costco
• Roland anchovies
• lemon
• an egg from one of our girls
• EVO
• Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
• Grey Poupon
• garlic
• half loaf of Shelby’s baguette from Field and Fire
• salt & pepper
• 6 ounce chunk of applewood smoked pork belly from E. A. Brady’s
• bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Stan
There are four things happening here. The dressing, the leafy stuff, pork belly and the baguette.
All super simple stuff. Plenty of time available for relaxation and the drinking of wine.
I’m never certain about what original stuff means but I believe that the Caesar dressing I’m making here is rather close to the original idea. There may be some push-back on the form (shaved or grated) with the Parmigiano Reggiano but all that matters is the cooker’s preference. I prefer it coarsely grated.
Let’s get going.
I’m chopping 1/2 of the radicchio to toss with torn romaine.
I tossed three garlic cloves and five or six anchovie filets into the wooden bowl and cutting the pork belly into good sized chunks. Carol Ann and I will each get about 3 ounces of the pork strewn about on our salad along with the tasty baguette.
I like using a cast iron skillet with a lot of room. It’s ready to use when it hurts like hell to touch the handle.
Note: Please don’t use a cast iron skillet until it’s up to temperature.
Dueling forks for making a garlic and anchovy mash.
Salt & pepper. I invariably use Maldon’s sea salt flakes. I love this stuff. The flakes are crunchy and delicious. Look closely and you see what I mean.
Rub the mash all around the bowl and up the sides.
I need to turn and brown all six sides.
I suppose that I’m looking for about a generous tablespoon of juice.
A modest amount of Lea & Perrins and a dab of poupon into the lemon juice.
Mixy, mixy.
Keep turning. It’s taking everything I’ve got to keep from eating these right now. For certain, Caesar would not have waited.
Plop goes the yolk. Look at the color of this beauty.
Note: Some people, and for good reason, are concerned about consuming raw eggs. Sous vide to the rescue. Now you can pasteurize your egg(s) and keep them (in a practical sense) raw when necessary for something like a Caesar salad dressing.
Here’s how – so simple. Let the sous vide bring the water bath to 134.5º, gently lower the egg(s) into the bath and let it (them) sit for two (2) hours. Perfectly pasteurized “raw” eggs. The whites may have a tendency to become slightly opaque, but that’s a small price to pay.
If you use quite a few raw eggs, you can do a batch of them and keep in the fridge.
The yolk is resting in a nest of mash and I’m drizzling EVO. How much? If I had to guess, I would say maybe a 1/3 of a cup or so. I always error on the high side of everything. Can’t get too much of good stuff and anything left will get used in something else.
Now for the blending and whisking.
After a lot of experimenting, coarse grating Parmigiano Reggiano is my favorite texture for something like this.
Like this. Sometimes I use Pecorino Romano instead of Parmigiano Reggiano. Please, never use a substitute for either of these glorious cheeses. And no, they don’t make them in Wisconsin.
Almost ready for the leaves.
These are ready and I did not cheat. They are irresistible for sure.
Two methods for dealing with romaine. Both okay. Tear or cut. In this instance, I cut the radicchio and tore the romaine because I felt like it.
One of the nice things about being a cooker is that you don’t need much of a brain as this clearly demonstrates. Just be smart enough to get it into the bowl.
Tosstosstosstosstoss & toss until it’s all evenly coated with the luscious mixture of oils and stuff. Toss but do not agitate.
Now for the really critical part of the process. I reject the notion of (regular) croutons in favor of crispy baguette pieces. If you have forgotten my technique for explosively crispy crust and sensually moist and chewy inner stuff, please go back to essay 40.
Pre-heat the oven to 375º (this is one of the few oven temperatures I’ll publish). Take a baguette (this is a half loaf) to the sink and hold it under the faucet until the crust is totally wet. Not soaked – just thoroughly wet. Place it immediately into the 375º oven and give the crust a squeeze before you shut the door. The crust should give as you apply pressure.
Let it work for 10 minutes in there. Open the door and give it another squeeze. If it is firm and does not give under pressure, take it out quickly and rap it with a tablespoon. It should be similar to rapping the spoon on the counter with its crisp report. Not a thud. If it’s a thud, put it back into the oven for another 5 minutes and try again.
As I am making slightly larger than crouton size pieces, the easiest way to do this is with kitchen scissors. I cut the length of this half loaf into quarters (long pickle spear shapes) and then cut the quarter lengths into 3/4” (approximately) pieces and toss into a small mixing bowl.
Like this.
Explosively crisp crust and deliciously soft insides. The bowl of pork belly remains a target but I’m behaving myself.
A generous drizzle of EVO with some salt & pepper and the crucial part of the operation is over.
Serving up the leaf.
Dividing up the goodness of the baguette.
Going for the gold.
A final shave.
Merry Edwards will join us for dinner. Hail, Caesar! It’s truly impossible to describe how completely delicious this was. It just turned out that way. Imagine that.
MORE NEW ENGLAND ASTER KITCHEN ESSAYS
45. complicated peppers
46. hubbard’s boat
47. chard pigmeat
48. hail, caesar!
49. big shorty
50. little shorty gets a bonus
Thanks for visiting with me.
Paul V’Soske
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