Years and years ago when my husband and I were just dating, my mother-in-law to be (at the time) taught me her famous classic caesar salad recipe.  I had always been told that caesar salad dressing was so incredibly fattening and that it was better to have a hamburger and fries than a caeser salad.  And to tell you the truth, I never loved the creamy type of caesar salad dressing anyway.  I was thrilled when my mother-in-law showed me her easy, delicious, olive oil based recipe for on-the-spot caesar salad dressing.  It is full of flavor and chances are you have most of the ingredients on hand!  You can easily adapt the dressing to your taste buds….more or less garlic or lemon etc.

Classic Caesar Salad (Serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

1 head romaine lettuce, rinsed and chopped

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Caeser salad croutons

1 tsp. dijon mustard

1 tsp. minced garlic (fresh is the best for this recipe)

juice of half of one lemon (I sometimes use more but I’m a lemon fanatic!)

1-2 tsp. worchestire sauce

1 egg yolk

salt and pepper

1/3 cup olive oil (less or more to taste)

Directions:

In large wooden bowl (or whatever bowl in which you will mix the salad), whisk together dijon mustard, garlic, lemon juice, worchestire sauce, egg yolk and salt and pepper.  Drizzle in olive oil and whisk into the previous mixture.  Add chopped romaine lettuce, parmesan cheese and croutons.  Toss and serve immediately.

*You can play around with the amount of lemon juice, mustard and worchestire sauce to achieve the exact flavor that you like.