WOMAN: You can't find a good Caesar salad in Paris.
They always put big chunks of chicken in them.
And so this salad is the perfect way
to have that authentically American salad at my home.
What's special with the croutons that I tend to make
is that I like to flavor them just as we're baking them.
It makes sure that when you eat through them,
you're not eating through this bland piece of bread.
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I have some anchovies and some mustard, some freshly
zested lemon, and some garlic.
This brioche is at least five days old.
When you touch it, it doesn't have that cushiony squish
that brioche normally has.
So here we go.
I'm using canned anchovies.
I imagined this recipe so that people who don't like anchovies
can have a Caesar salad with anchovies
but without even noticing them.
So if you're not an anchovy lover, trust me on that one.
Try it.
And if you still don't like it afterwards,
then I'll have tried my best.
I'm going to use honey Dijon mustard.
It has to be a strong mustard.
Lemon zest, some garlic.
I'm going to blend them adding a little bit of water
for fluidity, and then I'm going to paint these brioche,
these stale brioche slices.
And let them absorb the flavors and scents of the anchovies.
Here you want to puree just until the ingredients have
come together.
All right.
And my ingredients have just come together.
I'm going to start adding a little bit of water.
And this is just a couple of tablespoons.
Add the water as the food processor
is doing its job so that I don't add too much water content.
You'll know it's reached the right texture when
it has a liquid aspect to it.
It's a little coarse, and that's OK.
Anchovies in the food processor won't puree it perfectly.
It almost has the consistency of horseradish.
I have my little mixture.
And I am going to paint my anchovy slices
with a little bit of this paste.
I know there's some nonanchovy lovers out there.
But the mustard and the lemon really
overpower any traditional anchovy flavors
that might deter you.
The brioche, even though it's stale,
will still absorb very quickly any little hydration or liquids
inside.
And this is perfect because it will stick
as I'm turning over the slices.
In doing both sides, you ensure that there's
a nice spreading out of the flavors
on all the pieces of the brioche.
Our brioche slices are ready to go into the refrigerator.
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The brioche has been marinating for 6 to 24 hours
in your refrigerator.
When you take it out, it'll have a sort of paste look to it.
It actually looks like you've put toothpaste on your brioche.
This is a good time to put your oven on boiler so that it's
at the right temperature when you're
about to dry out the croutons.
So I take each piece, and I just pull it apart.
You can use a knife.
But the reason why I like to just pull it out
is that it makes for uneven croutons that
then have this varied texture.
As I'm cutting through it, I'm getting
the fresh whiffs of lemon.
The brioche here has soaked up all of the liquids.
And it almost looks like it's revived.
I'm going to drizzle a little bit of olive oil
and put some Parmesan on top to finish off my croutons.
When you eat a Caesar salad, I've
been routinely frustrated to have some very bland croutons.
So this recipe really stems from my desire
to eat some flavorful salads from every single bite.
We're going to take this to the oven
and broil it for a couple of minutes
just time enough for the brioche to really soak up and dry out
all of the cheese, the oils, and really have
those oven-baked croutons.
When your croutons are ready, they'll be golden.
And you'll see they'll have reduced in size.
That's absolutely fine.
They've shrinked because they've absorbed the water, yes.
But they've also dried out in the oven.
Before we top up the salad with these croutons,
we're going to make a dressing.
For this salad dressing, I have adapted the traditional Caesar
salad sauce for the way that I flavored these croutons.
I use some lemon juice.
The reason why I add a little bit of honey
is to really round up the flavors.
It's not that I'm looking for the sweetness
as much as I'm looking for the stickiness of the honey.
I use some olive oil.
Now whisk this together, and then
just add some salt and some freshly milled pepper.
So for the salad itself, we have some romaine salad.
I will start with the fresh ingredients,
adding the radishes to the bowl, some Parmesan,
just putting the croutons last so that you don't
break their structure too much.
I'm going to put in some of the dressing.
Once that's done, I'm going to add my croutons.
You may not put all of the ones that you've prepared.
And you can keep those for a couple
of weeks in a cool, dry space.
Here we go.
I love anchovies, so I'm going to add an extra crouton or two.
And the final touch--
I'm just going to add a little bit of the Parmesan.
And those extra radishes are just for presentation.
All of the ingredients really come together.
And you don't have the dryness that you have in these bland
croutons that are store-bought.
It is very, very, very good.
This is a Caesar salad for me.