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Deconstructed Grilled Caesar Salad

Deconstructed Grilled Caesar Salad

Deconstructed Grilled Caesar with poached egg and croutons

About a zillion years ago, I opened New World Grill, a great little American bistro tucked into New York City’s theater district. We had what I still consider today to be an acid test Caesar salad. It was served in a pre-chilled bowl which was kinda fancy for a tiny neighborhood location (that would go on to garner some epic reviews, BTDub). With a light and fluffy dressing, it was all you would want a Caesar salad to be. The croutons were house-made and crusted with Parmesan. We also used red romaine which wasn’t really a thing yet. It got so I couldn’t order Caesar anywhere else because that salad was that damn good.

Little Gems baby romaine heads

The fluffiness of the dressing came from an emulsified yolk-based aioli. Most bad Caesars suffer from heavy, oily dressing. Tableside Caesar salads are often the worst offenders. But in thinking about that today and for home use, I thought…why not take the egg out and put it on top? Poached egg toppers are kind of an obsession these days (okay, maybe it’s just me that’s obsessed.) And a Caesar dressing that is made egg-free can be stored a lot longer than one with a raw egg in it. Hence the “deconstructed” in the recipe title!! By pouring the oil in a thin stream into a blender or processor with the motor running, you can still emulsify the dressing, even without the egg. Just be sure to pour it slowly.

Little Gems drizzled with EVOO

To really set this Caesar salad apart from the sad sack versions, I am putting some char on the leaves. Romaine is a sturdy lettuce and holds together well on the fire. I love the Little Gems that are sold in the supermarket in a six-pack, but hearts of romaine would also do well. Just split either size lengthwise, and brush the cut sides with a little olive oil before placing on the grill for 3 1/2 to 4 minutes, or until you see the first signs of wilt/char and some nice grill marks. In that short amount of time, the romaine will pick up some nice smoky flavor.

Grilled baby romaine halves

Feel free to use any good grating cheese. I used Manchego, but Parmesan or Pecorino would also work well. This is chef’s choice. Once you have made the dressing, it’s a no-recipe recipe. I know how much you love those. You’re welcome.  Store-bought croutons are fine, too. You are really welcome!

Grilled Caesar Salad with cheese and croutons on white plate

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Grilled Caesar Salad

Deconstructed Grilled Caesar Salad


  • Author: Katy Keck
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 6

Description

Sometimes it’s hard to get a good Caesar salad. Look no further. Deconstructing the dressing – by putting the poached egg atop the salad – and grilling the romaine sets this salad apart.


Ingredients

Scale

Caesar Dressing:

  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 2 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
  • 2 anchovy fillets, salt-packed, rinsed and patted dry (see notes below)
  • 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 small garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup olive oil

Salad:

  • 6-pack of Little Gems baby romaine or 3 hearts of romaine
  • Olive oil to drizzle on romaine
  • 6 eggs
  • Chunk of hard grating cheese like Manchego
  • 1 cup seasoned croutons (optional/more or less to taste)
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Flaky sea salt, like Maldon

Instructions

Make the Caesar dressing:

In a blender, add the Parmesan, lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar, anchovy fillets, Dijon, garlic, salt and pepper. Blend.

With the motor running, pour the oil in in a thin stream, until incorporated and emulsified.

Refrigerate until ready to use.

Makes 3/4 cup. You will need about half for this recipe. Store, refrigerated, in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Make the salad:

Split the Little Gems or romaine hearts lengthwise.  Drizzle with a little olive oil.

Place cut-side down on a hot grill until charred, about 3 1/2 to 4 minutes.  Transfer to a chilled serving platter and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Poach eggs.  A drop of white vinegar added to the simmering water helps keep the whites from going rogue. I love these OXO poaching cups! You put them in simmering water and drop the egg through the solid top half and the water circulates through the holes in the bottom. The silicone provides the perfect barrier to give you that extra nano-second needed to really corral the whites. It’s a flawless technique.

Assemble:

Drizzle the Caesar dressing across the grilled romaine. Using a vegetable peeler, slice shards of Manchego on top and scatter croutons around. Top the salad with poached eggs.

Season with flaky salt, like Maldon, and freshly ground black pepper.

Notes

 If you can’t find salt-packed, use anchovies packed in oil. Rinse them well, then cover them with kosher salt. Set aside for 10 minutes. Rinse well again, and pat dry. This will wick out the fishy oils and just leave sea-flavor. You can of course omit them, but they add that unctuous umami that is hard to achieve in a salad dressing.

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Category: Salad
  • Method: Grilling

I have somewhat recently acquired the OXO Good Grips Silicone Egg Poaching Set, and it has truly upped my game as an egg poacher. You would think that after countless brunches at the restaurant, I’d be a blindfolded, one-armed egg poacher, but I am occasionally challenged by rogue egg whites. True, a drop of white vinegar added to the simmering water always helps keep the whites in check. But with these collapsible, stackable egg cups, all you have to do is put them in enough simmering water to reach a mark on the cup, and then drop the egg through the solid top half, leaving the water to circulate through the holes in the bottom. The silicone provides the perfect barrier to give you that extra nano-second needed to really corral the whites. It’s a flawless technique.  And so much better for you than the aluminum inserts my Mom used in her egg poaching pan. Bonus: they are dishwasher safe.

Silicone Egg Poaching Set

If you have not yet grilled lettuce, give this a whirl. When the first Zagat Guide came out after we opened, the only comment next to New World Grill was “some things shouldn’t be grilled.” I could not disagree more!

Poached Egg close up on Caesar salad; white plate and a fork

Want more yummy summer salads?

Rustic Tuscan Panzanella Bread Salad

Rustic Bread Salad in a square white bowl with olives, caper berries, bread, scallions and tomatoes

Farm Fresh Summer Squash & Arugula Salad

Summer squash with spice blend mixed with arugula and topped with manchego

Everything But the Farmer Farmer’s Market Salad

Everything But The Farmer Farmer\'s Market Salad in a red bowl: grilled corn, avocado, bacon, scallions, tomatoes and basil

South of the Border Texmati Rice & Grilled Veggie Salad Bowl

rice, grilled veggie, salad with chunks of grilled corn, and cherry tomatoes in an orange bowl

Roasted Beet and Nectarine Salad

Roasted Beet and Nectarine Salad in a lime green bowl

This post contains affiliate links. For more of my must-haves, visit my shop.

© Copyright: KatyKeck.com 2017. All rights reserved.

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Roasted Poblano Strata – Eggstravaganza Part 2

Roasted Poblano Strata – Eggstravaganza Part 2

Roasted Poblano Strata with strawberries and toast

Now that you have eggstracted all the info needed to pick the best possible, freshest, and ethically, pasture-farmed eggs for your roasted poblano strata, it’s time to get cooking.  But what’s that you ask?  What’s a strata?? Come on! You know what a strata is even if you don’t call it that.  It’s a poor man’s soufflé, relying on bread instead of whipped egg whites.  My mom was legend when it came to the classic one – an egg/milk mixture that she poured over chunks of bread and allowed to sit overnight in the fridge.  The “chunkies” could be almost anything, but she (always a measurer) stuck to her recipe and used cubes of ham and cheddar.  She called it a fondue, and while really more quiche-like (custard-based), it was probably closer to a fondue with all that melted cheese (yes, you CAN add too much cheese) than a strata which derives from the Latin word stratus, meaning layers.  It was the ladies of the Silver Palate that popularized calling a layered brunch dish strata back in the 80s.

Roasted Poblano Strata in an oval casserole

In this version, I am bringing layers back. This dish is assembled lasagna-style.  And while I roast and peel the poblano peppers, if you are lucky enough to live in a place where you can get big cans of chilis, by all means, go for it.  I first fell in love with my inspo on this dish at a cattle branding in Nebraska many many moons ago.  It was featured in the Denver Junior League cookbook Colorado Cache and seemed almost soufflé like and probably hard to make, though I was told “doll, if it was that hard, we wouldn’t be making it.”  There wasn’t a meal with less than 60 hungry ranch hands at the table.  I brought the idea home, found no such canned chilis available, and created this brunch favorite.

Poblano Peppers on a wooden counter

Roasted Poblano Strata

  • 8 poblano peppers (or 32 ounces canned mild chilis, drained)
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 ¼ cups milk (plus 1/2 cup more if you are soaking the poblanos overnight – see below)
  • 3 Tablespoons flour
  • ½ t salt
  • 8 ounces habanero or pepper jack cheese slices
  • 3 cups shredded cheddar

Prep the poblanos: Grill (or char over a gas burner) the poblanos until blackened.  Place in a plastic bag and close to sweat.  Once cool enough to handle, run under cold water and peel off the charred skin.  Trim off stems and discard seeds and ribs.  You should be able to get two or three “filets” from each poblano.  If you are prepping your peppers a night ahead (recommended), cover with about 1/2 cup of milk and store in the refrigerator, covered.  This will turn down the heat to a reasonable breakfast temp.

Roasting Poblanos on an open flame with tongs

Prep the strata: Preheat the oven to 325oF degrees.

Butter a 2 or 3 quart baking dish.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, flour and salt.

Place a layer of poblanos in the baking dish and top with sliced cheese.  Repeat, creating as many layers as needed to use all the poblanos and the cheese slices, at least two layers of each.

Pour the egg mixture over the poblanos.  Sprinkle with shredded cheddar.

Bake at 325oF for 50 minutes until egg mixture is set and slightly puffed.

Allow to cool for about 10 minutes and serve warm!

Serves 8.

Roasted Poblano Strata with strawberries and toast

© Copyright: KatyKeck.com 2016. All rights reserved.

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Ethical Farming: Behind the Scenes at Wise Family Farm Eggstravaganza Part 1

Ethical Farming: Behind the Scenes at Wise Family Farm Eggstravaganza Part 1

Eggs of Every Size and ColorHow many times have you reached for that egg caddy in the fridge and not thought a whip about where those eggs came from or how their mothers have been treated. I was making a roasted poblano strata (recipe in the next post) for some house guests one weekend and decided it was high time to take a deeper dive.  An NPR interview with  the very funny Mardi Jo Link discussing her book Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm piqued my interest.   And then I became friends with the chicken whisperer Tracy Wise, often seeing her three times a week at several local farmers’ markets. While I had already made the conscious decision to exclusively buy her eggs and chickens, I knew very little about what set them apart or why ethical farming mattered.

Feeding the GoatsThis summer I paid a visit to Wise Family Farm, the ten-acre plot owned by Tracy and Brad in Robinson Township (Michigan).  Brad has spent nearly three decades with the US Coast Guard and they arrived with the family, including kids Jaycee, Garett and Annaliese, from Alaska only five years ago. Looking ahead to their next chapter, the family Wise opted to try their hand at farming. And a family affair it is.  Not just adults, and not just eggs and chickens.  As the photos proudly displayed at market show, all the kids are also involved  – via 4H  – and are responsible for calves, pigs, goats, and more.  While chickens, eggs, and turkeys are the primary focus, the farm is home to many more.  The cows, ranging from Jersey, to Holstein, to Maine-Anjou, are a real commitment to a traditional farming process that is increasingly harder to source. Because the Wises raise growth-hormone-free and non-GMO fed animals, they must source their calves at birth.  They are quick to buy back the 4H winners because they are fully aware of the animal’s quality.  More modern farming techniques may rely on growth hormone implants, but those committed to old-school techniques showcase both their labor of love and commitment to quality, a technique that is both time-consuming and expensive.  When I asked Brad how they mastered this immense operation with no previous experience while he is holding down a full time job, he said “some trial, mostly error.”  #Inspired!

Jax, the cow, with his friends and chefTheir menagerie also includes pets, as well as friends and family of the animal variety.  There’s a Welsh Harlequin duck by the name of Cheese & Quackers.  A pig named Petunia.  A small flock of guinea fowl, roaming off by themselves.  A South-African breed of goats, name for the Afrikaans word Boer, meaning farmer. Some small mini lops rabbits (including one named Rose) and some very large Flemish Giants – which gave me a whole new perspective on where the term fluffy bunny slippers came from.    They even have bees.

Tracy and Brad Wise with pig Petunia

Bunnies! Lots of bunnies

Flemish Giant- big bunnyBut for me the main draw was the ladies, as Tracy calls them.  I was intrigued by the fact that despite chicks and turkeys being hatched at a nearby farm, the hatch-lings are shipped day-old via the US Post office.  This follows best practices targeted at preventing the spread of avian flu.  There will be no cross-contamination by setting foot on another’s farm. Currently the Wises have some 65 turkeys – in preparation for this year’s Thanksgiving – and 700-800 laying Leghorn (I say, I say, boy – is that a chicken hawk?) hens.   While all birds have access to the local non-gmo high quality feed provided, they love to roam and munch on fresh clover.

Non-GMO Feed from Local ProducerI visited the turkeys (still quite young) in a 10×10 foot partially covered pen.  The chickens were in a large corral with a sort of covered wagon (the nesting box) within.  Both are moved daily to a fresh patch with new grasses, clover, and grasshoppers. This has the added benefit of leaving behind yesterday’s droppings to fertilize the soil for future use.  The nesting box or laying house is moved by tractor, but the smaller turkey pen is wheeled by hand to an adjacent patch daily. What alot of work.Baby Turkeys just arrived to grow for Thanksgiving

Sustainable and Ethical Farming of Laying HensThe ladies get a lot of daily attention and are much more demanding than say a meat bird.  In addition to providing food and water, the Wises must open the nesting box each morning, collected eggs twice daily, and finally close the box at night. Owls and hawks (yes, chicken hawks) are the biggest threat.  And don’t forget the whole witness relocation program – hitching the tractor and pulling the nesting box over a few feet to its next resting spot.

Collecting eggs from the laying binsOnce collected, eggs are run through an egg washing machine, as required by the State.  Trust me I had more than a small “I Love Lucy” moment, but Tracy’s deft hand racked them and transferred as fast as they came through the washer.   Then again the woman has practice – she washes from 100-200 DOZEN eggs each week.Washing Eggs through a rinsing machineIt’s not too late to order this year’s Thanksgiving turkey. By this time last year, it was. So I placed my 2016 turkey order in August of 2015. See below for details on placing your order.

Not Eggsactly as Eggspected

– Or things you had no idea you needed to know about yard birds and ethical farming:

Did you know hens like to “go outside and play in the dirt til dinner” – just like we did.  It’s called dirting or a dirt bath.  Very cool, as in built in air-conditioner.

Rooster taking a dirt Bath

Did you know Tom turkeys strutting their stuff are called “Tomming Out”? When it’s time to be big man on campus, it turns out they can ruffle their own feathers.

Did you know an egg can be laid without a shell?  Sometimes called Jelly Eggs, these are laid shell-free for a variety of reasons – very hot day, less than 24 hours between laying (insufficient time to form shell), or diet (unlikely at Wise Farms because they are so well tended and have access to quite the feast).

Jelly egg, laid without a shellDid you know all hens (like humans) are born with all the eggs they will drop throughout their laying life-cycle?  The reason a hen can lay almost daily is that the ova are in a continuous chain, in various stages of development . In general, it takes 25 hours to form a shell and lay an egg, and they are laid normally during daylight hours, so each day they are laid a bit later until its too dark, and then they skip to the next day.  Here is a diagram of the 25 hour journey.

Do you know the difference in free-range, cage-free, and pastured?  You may be impressed by the wrong terms.  Wise animals are pastured – and that means so much more than free-range which doesn’t guarantee that animals leave their sheds since food and water are generally kept inside.  It only means they have the option to range freely. When you think of chickens living the good life, roaming in a wide open clover-filled field, you are thinking of Wise Family Farm. But in many places that is not what you get.

Chix on the fly flapping her wingsEver wonder why fresh hard boiled eggs are impossible to peel?   Remember how that egg and its shell were literally just created in 25 hours?  That means the membrane (the outside on the jelly egg or that white thin layer just inside the shell on a boiled egg) and shell are very much integrated and the white (albumen) with its fresh acidic pH is attached to them both. Once the egg has been washed (before it ever gets near your kitchen), the shell becomes more permeable and the albumen loses some of its carbon dioxide, which in turn reduces the acidity of the egg white.  Lower acidity egg whites means easier to peel since there is further separation between the albumen and membrane. Concurrently, as the egg ages, it will dehydrate and shrink, creating a bigger air pocket between the shell and the membrane. More separation equals easier to peel.

Wait – do I have to choose between easy to peel and fresh?? No you do not. Before you settle for supermarket eggs that are allowed a full 45 days from packing to use-by date, consider this. Tracy suggests putting a rack or steamer basket over boiling water and steaming rather than immersing in boiling water. 12 minutes for hard boiled – 6-9 for soft boiled with a somewhat runny yolk. You may also try taking the egg from the steamer or boiling water and immediately running it under cold water. While holding the egg under the running water, peel, starting at the rounded end where there is an air pocket, .

Get to know your farmers and once you know their passions, it’s easy to be more mindful in your buying choices.   Local farmers work incredibly hard to bring you quality produce, so what’s say we show them some love??

Tracy and Brad Wise with the feed bags

Wise Family Farm is on Facebook! Like! Like! Like!

Grand Haven Markets: til noon Wednesday and Saturday (through October) Shop! Shop! Shop!

Spring Lake Market: til two Thursday (through mid-October) Shop more!

For orders: 616-499-5662 (if you are not in range for Wise turkeys, think now about finding a source near you. It’s later than you think when it comes to planning for your holiday bird. #EatLocal #EatEthical)

I’m traveling and have split this post into two parts.  Stay tuned for Eggstravaganza Part 2 featuring my  Roasted Poblano Strata recipe –  using Wise Family Farm eggs, of course!

© Copyright: KatyKeck.com 2016. All rights reserved.

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