Over here at Mable & Jack Farmstead we like to make our own mayonnaise. If you’ve never had homemade mayo you need to ASAP. We use our homemade mayo in many recipes, including crab cakes, chicken salad, deviled eggs, etcetera. In this recipe, they form the base of our caesar dressing.

The dressing is the most important component of this recipe, so it’s important to get it right. It starts with 2 egg yolks, a bit of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Slowly drizzle olive oil into a bowl containing the yolks and whisk briskly. As you do, the oil should begin to emulsify and thicken the mixture to creamy consistency. If you add the olive oil too quickly or if you don’t whisk briskly enough, the mixture will remain a liquid. It’s possible to remedy this by starting over with a new bowl and another egg yolk and then slowly whisking the failed liquid mixture back in.  It’s also possible to avoid the whisking altogether by using a food processor or immersion blender.

Once you’ve added a quarter cup of oil, you can stop whisking and begin to add the other components. We add more lemon, dijon mustard, garlic, Worcestershire Sauce and/or anchovies, Parmesan cheese, and black pepper to taste. Mix these ingredients together and you have a creamy, rich salad dressing.

On this specific occasion we had some breadcrumbs a friend gave us and so we toasted it and added in lieu of the traditional crouton topping. We also used Butterhead lettuce from our garden which made it even more special. Hope you enjoy this salad as much as Callie does.