Chicken and bacon caeser salad

Today I would like to share my recipe for my chicken and bacon caeser salad, it is such a tasty dish and I have it quite often for lunch, to save time you do not have to make your own caeser sauce as there are plenty of tasty ones you can buy but if you have never tried it before I would recommend giving it a go.  If you are unsure about using raw eggs you can always use Coddled eggs

Ingredients:

I small chicken breast cut into thick strips

2 rashers of smoked bacon

Parmesan shavings

Little gem lettuce or romaine lettuce leaves pulled off washed and patted dry

Cherry tomatoes

For caeser sauce:

1 anchovy fillet minced

1 garlic clove minced

¼ tsp. Dijon mustard

¼ tsp. Worcestershire sauce

½ lemon, juiced

15g parmesan grated

1 egg

1 egg yolk

100 ml extra virgin olive oil

Seasoning

For croutons:

1 Slice of bread

Paprika

Cayenne

Pepper

Rock salt

Extra virgin olive oil

Method:

The sauce takes about 10-15 minutes to do from scratch so you may want to do the sauce first then do the croutons and the chicken and bacon, I personally get the croutons and chicken in the oven on a low heat and make up the sauce whilst the rest are in the oven cooking. To make the croutons simply cut into cubes drizzle extra virgin olive oil over, a pinch of paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper and put in the oven. You may need to turn or give them a shake half way through just to make sure cook evenly.

For the chicken and bacon, seal off the chicken breast slices in a little oil then place on a tray with the bacon, once cooked slice the bacon up.

For the sauce, add all the ingredients apart from ½ of the lemon juice, ½ of the parmesan, the oil and the seasoning and whisk well, then slowly pour in a bit of the oil whilst whisking at the same time, you could ask someone to slowly pour in the oil whilst you whisk if it is easier (and if you have someone nearby). Keep pouring and mixing until the mix is emulsified

 

Once all the oil has been whisked in taste and add lemon juice, parmesan and seasoning until it is to your satisfaction.

Once the dressing is made and the croutons, chicken and bacon are ready all you need to do is put it all together. Start by tossing the leaves in half the dressing, you can add more now or add more on the finished salad if you require, then place leaves in a bowl, add the cherry tomatoes and croutons then the chicken breast, bacon strips and peel some parmesan to go on top.