Caesar Salad

You may be saying, "Alex, you haven't posted in a couple weeks, and here you bring us a salad? That's not cooking." To that, I say: I can't hear you, and calm your face, because this salad was delicious.

Birk picked up Ken's Steakhouse creamy caesar dressing a while back, and it's now my favorite Caesar dressing in a bottle. (The best Caesar anywhere is the one at The Melting Pot, but I don't dare try to copy it... I just eat it once a year and love it.) It's a pretty big bottle, so you might see Caesar show up again sometime on here.

Caesar Salad

Ingredients
romaine lettuce
croutons (ours are Parmesan Caesar)
bacon
chicken (got a rotisserie chicken, rosemary & garlic)
Parmesan cheese
Caesar dressing

Equipment
colander or salad spinner, cutting board and knife, microwave if your bacon isn't cooked, bowls

Instructions
You've made a salad before, right? Wash and pat dry your lettuce (I hate a watery Caesar, and it can make your croutons soggy, which is just the worst) and divide it into bowls. Cut up your chicken into bite-size pieces. Microwave your bacon according to package instructions. Assemble salads. Smile.

Yields
Depends on how much of each ingredient you use, of course.

Total time
10 minutes

Cleanup rating 1/5
You aren't even cooking. Absolute maximum of dishes to clean is your colander or salad spinner, cutting board, knife, maybe a plate you cooked bacon on, and your bowls/forks.

Difficulty rating 1/10
Even with the required skill of knowing how to efficiently dissect a rotisserie chicken (which I left up to Birk while I did the other prep), it doesn't get much easier than this.

Flavor rating 7/10
It's a classic dish. Chicken Caesar salad. Can't go wrong.

Adjustability: high
Use steak, shrimp, turkey, tofu, or nothing instead of chicken and bacon. Use a different type of lettuce. Instead of croutons, use nuts or Parmesan crisps or some other crunchy little thing. Try different dressings (although then I guess it's not so much a Caesar...)

Make it with...
Everything. With the chicken in it, it's a fine entree on its own. If it hadn't been so quick and I hadn't been so hungry, I would have roasted some potatoes and onions with it, or sauteed chicken breasts to go alongside it instead of cutting up rotisserie chicken to put on top of it. Go nuts.

French Croutons

The only "French" thing about these croutons is that I learned how to make croutons on the stove (as opposed to in the oven) when I was in France last year. I didn't follow a recipe or use particularly French ingredients or anything like that. I just had some bread leftover from this day, and decided to try this out... and I was pleased with the results.

"French" Croutons

Ingredients

Bread, cubed

butter

seasonings

shredded Parmesan (I used a four-cheese blend that included Parmesan and Romano)

Equipment

pan, stove

Instructions

Melt butter in your pan on medium heat. (I probably used about 2-3 Tbsp for the amount of bread I had, pictured above). Once it's melted, add your bread cubes. Toss them around to get them thoroughly coated. Season them and toss again for even coating. Once they're just about to your desired level of toastiness (remember, I like my croutons a little chewy, so in my picture, they aren't really crunchy yet) add the cheese and toss until it melts onto the croutons (be careful not to let too much melt onto the pan; it can burn pretty quickly).

Total time

about 10 minutes... be patient while waiting for them to toast; you don't want to burn them!

Yields

As much bread as you throw in there

Cleanup rating 2/5

You'll have a mildly greasy pan, but if you don't let anything burn, it'll be a breeze to clean. You don't even have a bowl/bag to deal with like you do with my other croutons!

Difficulty rating 3/10

If being patient is difficult for you, this is a little difficult. And you need to keep an eye on them; don't turn away for too long or something (bread, cheese, seasonings) might burn.

Flavor rating 8/10

YUM. It's hard to go wrong with butter, bread, and cheese (hey, that actually does sound pretty French... just add some wine!).

Adjustability: medium

You'll notice I didn't specify seasonings. Honestly, I made this a little while ago and can't remember what I used. I know there was garlic powder involved, because there always is. And I'm pretty sure I used my Parisian spice blend (...French) which has some dry leafy seasonings in there, and I was concerned about burning. But use whatever bread, spices, and cheese you want! Add other things! Leave out the cheese!

Make it with...

In the bonus photo, you'll see the croutons were their own individual side dish. You could put them on a salad like normal croutons, or make them smaller and use them in a Grenobloise style dish (that's why I learned it in France... we made skate Grenobloise, with capers and croutons and lemon juice). You could also just make them as a snack. Put some of these next to a cheese plate and glass of wine? Perfection.

Bonus photo:

Made them with sauteed chicken with red wine mushroom "relish,"
garlic mashed potatoes, and peas.

White Wine Sauce

Congratulations, reader! You're reading my first post with a total flop!

Well, it was still edible. But it wasn't very good. I didn't even bother taking a picture of it.

I made this sauce to put on chicken that I lightly breaded in Parmesan, garlic powder, and paprika, and sauteed in a pan with some olive oil.

White Wine Sauce

Ingredients
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp flour
1.5 cups white wine (I used pinot grigio)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Equipment
saucepan, stove

Instructions
Melt butter on low in saucepan. Add flour and salt; stir constantly for about 2 minutes. Add wine; stir and cook for about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add Parmesan, stirring until it's all melted.

Yields
about 1.5 cups of sauce

Total time
about 10 minutes

Cleanup rating 2/5
I actually haven't cleaned it yet but it won't be hard. Just don't let it sit. That would get pretty gross.

Difficulty rating 3/10
It isn't particularly hard, but you need to babysit it because of all the stirring. You can't do much else for those 10 minutes.

Flavor rating 3/10
The real problem, I think, is that the cheese didn't really melt. I know, I know; I should have used fresh Parmesan. Or at least shaved, not that crumbly stuff. But it didn't really melt, so it didn't really incorporate, so the sauce didn't really get thick. Birk suggested more flour or some cornstarch or something, which would probably help. (The problem is, my timing was otherwise perfect, so I didn't have the patience to wait to fix the sauce and let everything else get cold.)

So, it isn't impossible... my suggestions for fixing it would be:
- Use better Parmesan, or perhaps even a different cheese that melts more easily.
- Give yourself a few minutes to fix it with cornstarch if you need to (you can leave it on very low heat if you need to keep it warm while everything else finishes up).
- Maybe less wine in the ratio of wine to cheese, too. It was very... winy.