Last January, I was able to attend the Culinary Medicine Boot Camp through the Goldsbury Foundation, and The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, which took place at the Culinary Institute of America San Antonio. To say it was an amazing experience is an understatement. I learned a lot about cooking, and especially prepping, to help bring more whole foods into our daily routine, as well as expand our palates by changing a few simple ingredients in normal, everyday San Antonio cuisine. Take, for instance, this Mexican Caesar Salad Recipe.
It’s kind of the bee’s knees of easy and delicious. If you love classic a Caesar salad recipe, then I promise you are going to straight up ADORE this fun new version.
I really love the simplicity of this salad. It may seem like a lot of ingredients at first, but it’s mostly just the dressing. The batch makes about 1 ยฝ cups of dressing, and since you are only using about โ cup for the salad itself, you can easily seal and store the dressing to make more salad later, which is aaaaaaaaaaaaawesome.
I also really love the croutons, because using torn pieces instead of plain squares adds a whole new dimension of texture to the salad, and I promise you will like it so much more this way.
Can you tell how much I really love this salad? I am kind of drooling for some right now. Must go buy some bread, ASAP. I wish I could just make it appear in front of my face, because it’s like 90 degrees outside right now, and the AC in my van isn’t working, and therefore I do not want to drive to the store. Ew.
And unlike other Caesar salads, this Mexican Caesar salad recipe contains ZERO anchovies. You’re welcome.
I have a whole slew of recipes that I collected from my experience at the Culinary Medicine Boot Camp, like the roasted veggies I shared awhile back. I may be sharing more in the future, so keep an eye out, because these are some real treats, for sure! Give this Mexican Caesar Salad Recipe a try sometime and let me know what you think!
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- 1 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 ยฝ Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
- 3 tsp Soy Sauce
- Dash Hot Sauce
- 1 Serrano Chile stemmed and halved
- 1 ยฝ Limes zested
- 1 Egg Yolk
- Kosher Salt and Cracked Pepper to taste
For the Croutons
- ยผ C Olive Oil
- 4 Garlic Cloves minced
- 2 C Crusty Bread roughly torn into ยฝ" pieces
For the Salad
- 2 Heads Romaine Lettuce roughly torn
- ยพ C Queso Fresco crumbled
- ยฝ C Cilantro roughly chopped
Instructions
For the Dressing
- Combine ยฝ cup of the olive oil, plus all the other dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender, and process for one full minute. Scrape into a small bowl and slowly whisk in the remaining ยฝ cup olive oil. Adjust seasoning to taste, cover, and set aside in refrigerator.
For the Croutons
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small pan, gently warm the garlic with the olive oil until sizzling, but not smoking. Remove from heat and toss in a bowl with the torn bread pieces. Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Remove and allow to cool.
For the Salad
- Add the romaine lettuce into a large mixing bowl with half of the cheese, โ cup of the dressing, and all of the cilantro. Toss to coat thoroughly, arrange in a large platter, and top with the remaining cheese and the croutons.
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Kristen Chidsey says
Karly, this salad is stunning! I am totally putting this on my must make ASAP list ๐
Sarah says
I love the sound of that Boot Camp you went to! This salad looks absolutely fab – this one is going on the list of things to make because I can’t pass up anything with queso fresco/cilantro. YUM!