This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
Can a simple Caesar salad become one of a restaurant’s most popular dishes? Well yes ! At the Gus restaurant in Montreal, it is even all the rage. So, here is the recipe, created by chef and owner David Ferguson, who recommends that we prepare this salad just before serving it for maximum freshness and deliciousness.
Ingredients
1 salted anchovy (soaked in water for 30 minutes, fillets removed from bones) or 2 canned anchovy fillets
¼ clove of garlic
¼ teaspoon (1 ml) fleur de sel
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon (15 ml) Dijon mustard (We use Amora mustard, which is quite mild.)
1 tablespoon (15 ml) Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice
½ cup (125 ml) olive oil
⅓ cup (85 ml) parmesan
Salted capers (to taste)
Fresh 1-inch croutons (to taste)
Pieces of cooked bacon (to taste)
Romaine lettuce cut into small pieces
Preparation
1. Mash the garlic, anchovies and salt against the bottom of the bowl with the back of a fork, until a paste forms.
2. Add the egg yolk, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and whisk with a fork.
3. Slowly add the olive oil to the mixture, whisking constantly. Don’t worry if the emulsion splits, the cheese will then harmonize the recipe.
4. Grate ¼ cup parmesan into the mixture. Then add the capers, bacon and croutons. Fresh croutons can be made with day-old bread with the crust removed and cut into one-inch cubes. These cubes are then fried in hot oil (or bacon fat) until light brown.
5. Add romaine lettuce and add cheese and cracked black pepper.
6. Serve with some hot peppers.
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