Poached
Chicken Breast and Roasted Sweet Pepper Caesar Salad with Basil Pesto
Serves 4
Cos
Lettuce:
2 heads cos
lettuce, washed, dried and torn into bite – size pieces
Poached
Chicken Breast:
1 teaspoon
chicken stock powder
2 skinless
and boneless chicken breast
500 ml water
Roasted Sweet Peppers:
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
olive oil
rosemary
thyme
garlic
Caesar Dressing:
1 egg coddled
½ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
4 anchovy fillets
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Croutons:
3 slices white bread, crusts removed and cut into 2cm cubes
40ml olive oil
Poached Chicken Breast: Bring the water and the stock powder to
a boil, add the chicken breast, reduce the heat to low and poach the chicken
for 4 – 5 minutes, or until a medium – rare degree of doneness is achieved. Remove
from the stock and let cool. Carve into thin slices.
Roasted Sweet Peppers:
Remove the seeds from the peppers and rub with olive oil. Roast in
a 200ºC oven until soft and blackened. Remove from the oven, place in a metal
bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the sweet peppers cool down, remove the
skins and cut into strips. Place in a container with oil, rosemary, thyme and
garlic.
Caesar Dressing:
Beat the egg until foamy, add the oil until a mayonnaise forms.
Whisk in the remaining ingredients.
Croutons:
Drizzle the oil over the bread and bake at 160ºC until golden
brown.
To
Serve: Combine the lettuce, peppers, chicken and croutons with the
dressing and toss together. Divide between four plates and finish with shaved
parmesan cheese and basil pesto.
Table Side Caesar
Salad
serves
2
Salad bowl
A
good – sized unfinished wooden salad bowl is used for Caesar salad. Unfinished
wood is the material of choice because its mildly rough surface allows the
waiter to crush the garlic and anchovy filets into a paste that will dissolve
into the dressing. A smooth – surfaced bowl would leave chunks of garlic and
anchovy in the dressing, which could be jarring to the plate.
Equipment
Gueridon
or work surface
Large
wooden salad bowl, unfinished
Service
spoon and fork
Pepper
grinder filled with black peppercorns
Two
chilled salad plates
Ingredients
1
clove of garlic, peeled
1
anchovy fillet
1
teaspoon Dijon mustard
1
egg yolk
½
lemon, seeds removed
80
ml virgin olive oil, in a gooseneck bottle
1
head romaine (cos lettuce) washed and dried,
Torn into bite – size pieces,
rolled in a clean cloth napkin
4
teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
¾
cup croutons
To Prepare
Place
garlic clove in bowl. Break up the clove into small pieces with the fork. When
pieces are small enough, crush them with the back of the spoon to create a
paste. Rub the garlic paste into the wooden bowl, leaving no visible pieces of
garlic. Hint: while crushing and rubbing the garlic, hold down the bowl with
the free fingers of your left (fork) hand.
Repeat
with the anchovy filet. Again, when finished there should be no visible sign of
the garlic or anchovy. Add mustard to the bowl and distribute evenly over the
bottom of the bowl. Add egg yolk, whisking lightly to combine with the mustard
and to incorporate flavour from garlic and anchovy.
Take
the lemon half and stick the fork into the cut side, just below the center,
with the spoon held just below the fork. The fork will catch any pits that the
prep cooks missed, while the juice drips into the spoon. Add the lemon juice to
the bowl. Whisk it into the egg – mustard mixture with the fork.
Drizzle
the olive oil in a circle around the side of the bowl, about halfway down from
the edge. This allows the oil to pick up the anchovy and garlic flavor that was
rubbed in. whisk in the oil, creating the finished dressing. It should be
slightly thick with a pleasant yellow color, and should be heady with the
aromas of garlic, anchovy, mustard and lemon.
Add
the lettuce to the bowl, along with half of the grated cheese; toss the salad
lightly to coat with the dressing and cheese. Ask the guests if they would like
some ground black pepper, and comply with their wishes. Add the croutons and
toss again to combine. Divide the salad between two chilled plates and garnish
with the remaining grated cheese.
