Caesar Salad

Hello! I am your friendly neighborhood food blogger, Sarah. I'm a mom who loves to cook with local, seasonal ingredients. My belief is that ingredients do not have to be expensive or exotic to make a great meal, they only need to be fresh and of high quality. What is fresher and of more high quality than foods grown by people in our own communities? Besides, the Farmers' Market is a fun place to meet new people, learn about new foods and very often Olde Town sponsors musicians to serenade us while we shop.

Since it is spring and some of the first foods available will be lettuce and salad greens, I thought I'd post an old favorite of mine: real Caesar Salad.

For the dressing you will need:
Olive oil
Anchovies, canned and packed in olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Lemon
Garlic
Pepper
Parmesan Cheese
Egg
Most of these ingredients cannot be purchased at the Farmers' Market, except for the egg, but you can find them at the BiLo! Making your own salad dressing is easy, inexpensive, and healthier than pre-packaged dressing.

How to make it:
First, take a few anchovies packed in oil and plunk them down into the blender. I know this sounds gross, but when you are eating that amazing fresh salad you will be thanking me that you added the anchovies. They are *essential* to the flavor of this dressing.

Secondly, crack open a fresh, local egg into the blender. (I don't use a grocery store egg in this recipe, both for flavor and for health considerations. Salmonella from fresh eggs is extremely rare and I have no problem eating raw eggs. In fact, the raw yoke has enzymes that are very healthy and destroyed by cooking. I get my eggs from a lady at church whose husband raises backyard chickens. Fresh, local eggs are pretty easy to come by if you look.) BLEND.

Add olive oil and red wine vinegar to the mixture. Squeeze a bit a lemon into it as you are mixing. Crush a glove of garlic to taste and add a little black pepper. BLEND until tasty. Make sure you turn off the blender before dipping your finger in for a taste!

(For those of you totally grossed out by the anchovies, you can mix olive oil and balsamic vinegar together with a teeny bit of fresh garlic, black pepper, thyme (grown easily in a pot on your window sill or purchased at the market) and Parmesan cheese. This is a favorite and easy dressing at my house.)

Put chopped lettuce and optional salad greens into a bowl, pour the dressing on top and mix thoroughly. Shred on top some Parmesan cheese and enjoy! If this isn't the best salad you've ever eaten, I'll eat the rest of the anchovies in that little jar!

I usually top my salad with some chicken and serve asparagus on the side (also available in the spring!) For dessert we'll often have fresh fruit with shredded coconut and whipped cream. This meal makes you feel like you are dining at a high end restaurant, but it is actually very inexpensive and simple!