JULIA CHILD AND JACQUES PEPIN CAESAR SALAD

Steps:

• MIXING AND SERVING THE CAESAR Dress the salad just before serving. Have ready all the dressing ingredients and a salad fork and spoon for tossing. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the romaine leaves and toss to coat, lifting the leaves from the bottom and turning them toward you, so they tumble over like a wave. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt and several grinds of pepper, toss once or twice, then add the lemon juice and several drops of Worcestershire, and toss again. Taste for seasoning and add more if needed. Crack the egg and drop it right on the romaine leaves, then toss to break it up and coat the leaves. Sprinkle on the cheese, toss briefly, then add the croutons (and the garlicky bits in the pan, if you wish) and toss for the last time, just to mix them into the salad. Arrange 6 or more leaves in a single layer on individual plates, scatter the croutons all around, and serve. HOMEMADE CROUTONS Homemade croutons are essential for our Caesar salad and a fine addition to a basic green salad as well as soups. You can enrich the cubes with melted butter before toasting, if you like, or flavor them after with garlic oil, as in the Caesar recipe. It's easy to make a large batch and freeze any croutons you are not using the same day. Reheat frozen croutons in a low oven until crisp. BUTTER-TOASTED CROUTONS Before toasting the bread cubes, toss them in a bowl with ¼ cup of melted butter, then spread them out and bake them. Note: Julia is probably one of the few people around who saw the real Caesar Cardini making his salad. Her parents took her to his restaurant when she was just nine years old. She says "you don't want herbs and anchovies and things like that in it, those would adulterate it". Jacques on the other hand loves anchovies in his Caesar salad.