Caesar-style salad dressing has staying power — and no added sugar

Has the classic Caesar salad lost its appeal?

At one time, Caesar salad was a popular part of an upper-tier dining experience. After selecting a Caesar salad, a service person would roll a salad bowl on a cart over to your table and create the dressing (using a raw egg) and then assemble the salad using Romaine, croutons, and fresh Parmesan cheese.

Were those salads good? Depended on the restaurant and their ingredient choices. Excellent ingredients, like high-quality, extra virgin olive make a superb salad.

Years ago, when low-fat everything was healthy, and since I loved a good Caesar salad, I created a Caesar dressing using no oil; instead, I went with slightly thickened chicken broth and two tablespoons of real mayonnaise (later, using fat-reduced mayonnaise). It looked like a Caesar dressing but was barely acceptable otherwise. At the time, it was a small price to pay for cutting fat.

These days, fat’s not the evil one; sugars are. Since a classic Caesar dressing has zero added sugar, using extra-virgin olive oil is back.

Classic Caesar dressing begins by making mayonnaise by slowly whisking olive oil into an egg yolk and mustard. Too high a hassle for me. Today, I begin my Caesar dressing with mayonnaise, preferring avocado oil mayo over soybean oil-based mayo.

Starting with a half-cup of avocado oil mayonnaise makes it easy to whisk in a half-cup of extra virgin olive oil. Whisking olive oil into mayonnaise simply makes more mayonnaise.

My other secret: using the teaspoon of olive oil from olive oil-packed anchovies. Anchovies make this dressing authentic, and this boosts the flavor of this dressing a little and doesn’t waste that oil.

To make my dressing truly outstanding, I use fresh-squeezed lemon juice and grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Yes, there’s a little hassle using a microplane to grate the garlic and also to dice and then smash the anchovies. Otherwise, my dressing comes together quickly.

Two weeks ago, I made a Caesar salad for a party using this dressing and dusted the salad with more Parmesan cheese. I made my own garlic croutons from bakery-made ciabatta bread. That salad was served in a large bowl (there were 10 guests). After dinner, a single piece of lettuce remained stuck to the side of the bowl.

Success.

• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.

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Caesar-Style Salad Dressing

½ cup mayonnaise (preferably made with avocado oil or organic soybean oil)

1½ teaspoons Dijon-style mustard

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon olive oil from the anchovy can

¼ cup red wine vinegar

2 large garlic cloves, grated on a microplane grater*

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon hot sauce (like Tabasco)

½ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

10 anchovy fillets, packed in olive oil, drained, chopped, and mashed

¼ cup (about 1 ounce) freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Add the mayonnaise and mustard to a medium mixing bowl. Whisk together until combined. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mayonnaise while whisking continuously until all of the olive oil is incorporated. Whisk in the oil from the canned anchovies.

Add each remaining ingredient, in the listed order, one at a time, whisking until combined. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, or overnight. Makes about two cups.

Nutrition values per tablespoon: 125 calories (94% from fat), 13.1 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 0.4 g carbohydrates (0 net carbs), 0.2 g sugars, 0 g fiber, 1.2 g protein, 22 mg cholesterol, 334 mg sodium.

SaltSense: Omitting the Kosher salt reduces the sodium per serving to 194 milligrams.

*No microplane? Use a chef’s knife to mince and then mash the garlic mixed with the recipe’s Kosher salt.

— Don Mauer