Caesar Salad Dressing

This recipe is adapted from the The Woodbine Cottage - Our Favorite Recipes. Caesar Salad along with Sweet Potato Balls were two of the Woodbine Cottage's signature offerings. I omit the egg given recent concerns with salmonella; the resulting dressing is still very creamy and Caesar-like tasting.

Boil 1 egg one minute, then scoop contents out of shell and whip in blender until fluffy [I now omit, but may try next time using McGee's directions for pasteurizing*]

Put these ingredients in blender and whip:

¼ c lemon juice
½ t coarse pepper
¾ c salad oil [I use olive oil]
¼ t salt
1 t Worcestershire sauce
¼ c grated Parmesan cheese

1 clove of garlic, finely minced or add clove of garlic on toothpick after blending other ingredients and remove garlic before serving  [I use 2 cloves, minced unless garlic clove is quite large]

Let stand in refrigerator then warm almost to room temperature and whip again just before serving
Serve with romaine, endive, chicory or other greens and croutons (anchovies, optional) . Top with:

Grated Parmesan cheese.

* January 2013:  Reading Harold McGee's Keys to Good Cooking I came across this (page 298):

    " To eliminate the very slight risk of salmonella contamination from raw egg yolk, use pasteurized eggs, or pasteurize the yolk yourself.  Combine 1 yolk in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon/15 milliliters each of lemon juice and water, and microwave the mix on high power until it heaves close to the boil.  Remove the bowl, stir briskly with a clean fork, and repeat the heating.  Remove and stir again with a clean fork until lukewarm  Then start whisking in oil to make the sauce."  Be sure to use a clean fork/whisk each time. While McGee suggests this for making mayonnaise, it could also be done for Caesar Salad Dressing.  Full disclosure: I have not tried this yet but look forward to making this salad dressing with a pasteurized egg in the near future.

On page 214, McGee notes, " Pasturized eggs are available in the shell, in liquid form, and dried. These products eliminate worries about samonella-infected eggs, but don't do quite as good a job as raw eggs at foaming or emulsifying sauces. They can have a pronounced cooked flavor."

Reviewed 6/19/2017