Avoiding lettuce right now? Save this recipe for later! Or consider using homegrown or farmer’s market greens. You might also serve the dressed beans on a large layer of big, ripe, sliced tomatoes instead of the romaine. Don’t forget the parm and croutons!
It’s for sure the Dog Days of Summer wherever you live unless you’re in Australia. (And if you ARE in Australia, I’m jealous! I’ve just checked the temperature in Melbourne.) What are “Dog Days” anyway? The Old Farmer’s Almanac tells us:
The Dog Days of Summer run from July 3 to August 11 each year. Far more than a modern saying, the phrase comes from ancient skywatchers who noticed that the brightest star, Sirius, rose with the Sun during this period. For centuries, this hot part of summer has carried both astronomical meaning and layers of folklore.
By the way, Sirius is the alpha star of Canus Major — greater dog.
Dog days make me think more of a hot old dog dragging around with its tongue hanging out after too long of a walk in mid-summer. (And there are people who walk their dogs midafternoon; their poor burning feet!) Or perhaps I’d consider these warm weeks to be the height of hot dog season, as in wieners at the ball park or on the backyard grill. After all, it’s also baseball season.
Whatever your thoughts on dog days, if you ever had any, it’s the time when — even with air conditioning — cooking just ain’t the thing. Cooking for very long, that is, unless you’re making good use of that slow cooker in your pantry. Anything that’s done quickly or not cooked at all or at least done on the grill, is the choice most of us make. While I plan all of our meals and cook God’s good share of them, come summer, best sous and husband Dave is happy to grill or cook on the Traeger whenever I ask him to turn out a meal. Right now, we’re at Stage 2 Fire Restrictions, so there’s no Traeger allowed, along with no campfires, etc. The gas grill has been a life saver, as have the air fryer and salads. Phew; did you think I’d forgotten the salad? Nah.
Yesterday, a half-pound of cooked haricots verts –French-style thin green beans–in my fridge wondered about its (their?) future while I slowly and thoroughly cleaned a big bunch of romaine lettuce in a large pan of water. (Due to the current cyclosporiasis outbreak, it’s a good idea to buy only heads of lettuces and soak/wash them very well. In truth, bagged salad greens have always been troublesome.) My good friend, Pam Lehmkuhl, had recently filled a shelf of my freezer as she’s moving and needed to empty hers. From her thoughtful largesse, a fat whole chicken was thawing and would soon be happily grilling with its cavity stuffed full of thyme from my garden. Some sort of salad was all I could handle making for a side, though I knew I’d probably throw a packet of frozen baguette into the Breville oven, too. Anyway or “anyways” as we said in Chicago growing up, a new-to-our-house Caesar salad was just about to be born. The restaurants always throw any old flabby, overly grilled chicken breast on top of a Caesar, or a teensy, salmon fillet if you’re lucky, but why not a beautiful slew of barely done skinny green beans instead? And couldn’t they be garnished with perky red-ripe tomatoes and a shower of the greenest of chives since I’m overrun with chives day and night in this house? I had a perfectly good Caesar salad dressing recipe, long since adapted from a beautiful FOOD & WINE version from 2017 that could be put to great use. All right then. I had little to do but consider the order in which the steps of a recipe might be accomplished and, truth is, I hardly have to think about that sort of thing. Much, that is.
If the beans hadn’t been cooked, I’d have begun with boiling the water for that. But since they were ready and waiting, my first job was to make the Caesar dressing. I’m blessed to have the Cadillac of home food processors, a Breville, and it comes with a small bowl and matching steel blade that fits right inside the large, 12-cup bowl. (Some cooks have a mini food processor and that’d work great, just as would an old school blender or a beautiful bowl and a trusty whisk. Hello, strong arms!) That small bowl on my Breville, however, is perfect for making salad dressing and I put it to good use regularly. Next? A small skillet was heated with a 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and, once hot, I fried up my bread cubes (leftover Italian bread) for croutons. I then drained them in a paper towel-lined bowl and seasoned them highly with salt and pepper. Of course I tried one out. Just to be sure.
My husband has a standing job of grating cheese and, while I tossed first the beans with some dressing (plus a pinch each salt, pepper, crushed red pepper) and then the romaine leaves (seasoned the same way), he grated me about a half cup of Parmigiano Reggiano. (If you have a COSTCO membership, that’s the place for large, gorgeous hunks of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Don’t buy pre-grated cheese; it often has odd additions you don’t need and the hunks keep much longer. You then can save the rinds in the freezer for pots of soup or beans.)
Somewhere in there, tomatoes were chopped and chives got minced.
Once those small chores were accomplished, I was ready to plate the whole salad, which I decided to compose on a large platter rather than chop and toss in a big bowl. You do it just like you’d like when you try this:
Green Bean Caesar Salad
Ingredients
CAESAR DRESSING:
- 2 anchovy fillets-can sub a teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 large egg yolk, poached for one minute in a small skillet with ¼ cup water, drained before adding to dressing or a pasteurized egg yolk. (can sub a large tablespoon mayonnaise)
- 1 small shallot, minced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar–can sub white wine vinegar or use another tablespoon lemon juice in a pinch
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Pinch of crushed red pepper
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
SALAD:
- ½ pound about 2 cups haricots verts or regular green beans, cooked (see cook’s notes)
- Kosher salt; freshly ground pepper; crushed red pepper
- 2 large heads romaine lettuce, cored, cleaned well, outer leaves removed and discarded, and divided into leaves
- ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, divided (¼ cup on salad and ¼ cup served at the table)
- 1 large ripe tomato, diced
- 2 tablespoons minced chives for garnish – or more to taste
- 1 cup homemade croutons (see cook’s notes)
Instructions
- MAKE THE DRESSING: Using a small food processor or blender, pulse or purée the anchovies with the egg yolk, shallot, garlic, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and crushed red pepper until smooth. With the machine running, slowly pour in the olive oil until thoroughly blended and emulsified. Transfer the dressing to a lidded jar or storage bowl with a tightly fitting lid. (Can be made by hand with a whisk.)
- TOSS FIRST THE BEANS AND THEN THE ROMAINE LEAVES WITH THE DRESSING: To a small bowl, add the haricots verts; season lightly with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Add a tablespoon of the Caesar dressing – or more to taste- and toss gently. Set aside. To a large bowl, add the romaine leaves; season lightly with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Add 2-3 tablespoons of the Caesar dressing and toss gently. Taste for seasonings and add more spices or dressing, as desired.
- ARRANGE THE SALAD: Line a large platter with the romaine leaves. Spoon the dressed haricots verts in a mound at the center. Top the haricots verts with the chopped tomatoes. Scatter the croutons around the perimeter. Sprinkle the salad with half of the grated Parmigiano Reggiano (serve the rest at the table) and then with the minced chives. Serve immediately. This salad, once dressed, will not refrigerate well. Eat and enjoy!
Notes
Caesar Salad Dressing tip: Don’t over mix the dressing once you’ve added the olive oil. It will be bitter.
CHANGE IT UP:
- Gluten Free? Make your own gf cornbread and use that bread (a day or two old) for croutons; they’re stellar!
- For a vegan version, sub vegan mayo for the egg yolk and either use vegan parmesan cheese or none at all; toasted bread crumbs might be used instead. Skip anchovies; instead, use vegan worcestershire or make your own.
- Use mayonnaise rather than egg yolk. Check out the recipe from What’s Gaby Cooking.
- Shredded cabbage instead of romaine. Check out the Cabbage Caesar Salad from Eating Well.
- Extra dressing? Drizzle over ripe, sliced tomatoes for lunch. Slather on bread for a decadent sandwich dressing. Use as a dip for boiled eggs.
- No green beans? Sub sautéed zucchini or steamed asparagus. No tomatoes? Sub chopped roasted peppers.
- Skipping whole anchovies? Add a shake or two of Worcestershire sauce to your dressing to still get a tiny anchovy umami hit without using the fish itself.
- Want more? For extra protein, go with grilled shrimp or small chunks of roasted salmon on top of the salad leaves or along the edges of the platter. If you’re fond of whole anchovies and can find them, garnish the salad with a few of these gorgeous fellows.
- For a briny addition, consider sliced olives, marinated peppers, or capers. Feeling crunchy? Crispy, thinly sliced fennel or celery or jicama or carrots could be tossed with the romaine leaves and dressing.
If you’re not in the mood to create your own Caesar dressing, I’ll look the other way while you whisk together equal amounts of fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil with salt and pepper added to taste. Maybe a mashed, chopped glove of garlic, too. There you go, a little lemon vinaigrette just for you. (Lovely on asparagus or green beans.)
The salad below, once enjoyed in Carlton, Oregon, was the inspiration for today’s platter of joy. It might have been at the restaurant Park and Main, but I couldn’t bet on that. The thrill was simple: incredibly fresh greens, balanced lemony dressing, perfect salty parm, and more chives than I would have considered needed–though they were just enough!
IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE MY:
The Ever-Changing Salad….a no-cook salad that just morphs and morphs through summer weeks.
Barbecue Chicken Caesar with Toasted Pecans
FRIDAY FISH: Tilapia Caesar Salad
Grilled Caesar Salad (This is within a post about making a whole meal on the grill; you’ll need to scroll down. Here is my old friend Helen Brockman at that grilling class.)
The above salad–made with leftovers thrown together as quickly as possible — is taken up a notch with the addition of some green beans tossed in leftover Caesar dressing. In fact, those beans would make a good side to any summer grilled meat you happened to have. Eaten cold, they’re fun and cooling.
LIFE GOES ON:
Dog days in Colorado, and in many other places, mean smoky fire times. We’ve spent quite a bit of time with the windows squeezed tightly shut and, thankfully, we have air conditioning to help out. The Aspen Acres fire, not too far south of us, is still after nearly two weeks, at almost 100K acres. It’s partially contained and some folks have been allowed back home. Over 800 buildings, many of them homes, were destroyed. We remain on high alert with daily Red Flag Warnings for our weather forecasts.
above: the mountains just to the west of Colorado Springs, covered in the smoky haze
I’m especially watching the MN Boundary Waters fires as they try to evacuate 1,000,000 acres today. Our world…
below: mama and two cubs enjoying the easement between our land and the next next property
You can insert SMH or RME or whatever you want here. It’s part of our lives, though occasionally beary-scary.
above: On the other hand, twin fawns are often playing in our yards. Here is one of them jumping for joy. They have many of the mannerisms of young goats, hopping straight up into the air.
above: bad photo alert! If you’re an old reader, you’ll remember Lurky Turkey, who, though usually alone, one year had a beau and a brood. This year, she’s showed up with another hen for company. I’m glad she has a friend.
above: We are about done with a total yard reboot, including walkways and paths, thanks to Robertson’s Landscaping. Now to figure out what we’ll be planting!
I have every intention of getting back to this space next month but I’m busy giving a wedding shower and have a few other things on my plate. If I miss it and you don’t hear from me by mid-September, we are in Japan for a month. Yep; it’s a cruise,– actually two of them, back to back. We leave from Vancouver, BC Sept 13 and return mid-October. We’ll spend a few days in Vancouver before getting on the ship but you can always check the location of Holland America ms Westerdam on cruise mapper dot com. We sail from Vancouver over the Pacific to Japan, go around the islands, and fly home for 17 hours. Maybe you’d enjoy seeing the itinerary maps:
Stay cool–or stay warm if you’re in Australia! Make a salad and come back soon. I’m so glad you’re here; it means a great deal to me,
Alyce
We just celebrated our 52nd anniversary. Happy us 🙂