Real Caesar Dressing is never white and is suppose to be very bold in flavor. It’s not Caesar unless you have flavors of garlic, anchovy, lemon juice, fresh cracked black pepper all equal in flavor with none outshining the others. Believe me I know…..back in the day I did this professionally. Here is an avocado variation of what caesar is suppose to taste like. I don’t usually use the oil from the anchovies but I found that the King Oscar brand that my local store sells to be the mildest, tiniest, (worst) anchovies I have ever come across and for the recipe to work out I needed to fortify the flavor with the anchovy oil. If you got good anchovies you might want to substitute olive oil instead to the one Tablespoon of anchovy oil that’s listed in the ingredients. A good anchovy is one that has some body to it. It should be about as long as your thumb. You should be able to lift each filet out of it’s container. The King Oscar Anchovies almost dissolve instantly. Sadly King Oscar Brand were the only brand of anchovies my local Safeway Store sells.

Ingredients for 4 servings

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

4 anchovies – (note- quality and size of anchovies differ greatly, 4 from a small can, I used King Oscar because that was my only choice and found out the anchovies were very mild and very tiny….Good quality big ones you might need less)

1 XL egg yolk

2 Tablespoons dijon mustard

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice – fresh squeezed

1 Tablespoon oil from the anchovies

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 avocado – just the creamy flesh

1/2 cup cilantro – finely chopped

3/4 teaspoon black pepper – fresh ground

sea salt – fresh ground to taste

Directions

If you are doing caesar table side you need a large wooden bowl and you use two forks to break down the garlic and then break down the anchovies with the two forks like this. Or you can simply ground the garlic on a garlic grounding board and then use the two forks to break down the anchovies.

With the fork beat in the yolk till it thickens.

Mix in dijon till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon olive oil till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon vinegar till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon olive oil till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon vinegar till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon olive oil till it thickens.

Mix in one Tablespoon lemon juice till it thickens.

Mix in one tablespoon olive oil till it thickens.

Mix in Worcestershire sauce.

Mix in anchovy oil till it thickens.

Mix in avocado till it’s smooth.

Mix in remaining ingredients, taste and adjust.

Serve..Spread the dressing heavy on a cleaned 1/2 head of romaine that is chilled or grilled (or tossed in torn romaine). Top with roasted red pepper strips, either parmesan or cotija cheese, some more anchovies, toasted pumpkin seeds or seasoned croutons, scallions and maybe a little fresh cilantro. A few pieces of grilled chicken will turn this salad into a dinner.

Forking Good!