Grilled Caesar Salad

I have seen many recipes over the past few years for grilled romaine salads, usually Caesar salad. I always thought they were interesting. I probably tore about  three or four out of magazines and stuffed them in one of the (many) recipe piles that litter my home office. But, alas, I had never tried one.

This weekend I was looking for an easy side I could throw on my Big Green Egg while my main dish rested. (A super-delish and easy pork chop I will share soon.) So my side needed to cook quickly. Scanning a new cookbook, I found a healthy version of the grilled Caesar salad and figured I would give it a spin.

I am a big fan of pre-prep so that I don’t lose my mind trying to get everything to come out at the same time. So I made the dressing earlier in the day. (Of course, you can always just use your favorite bottled Caesar dressing.) I put the following ingredients (adjusted slightly from the original recipe) in my mini food processor and whirled them together:

• Juice of 1 small lemon or 1/2 large
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil mayonnaise
• 2 anchovies or 2 tsp anchovy paste
• 1 tsp Worcestershire (I subbed Pickapeppa)
• 6-8 turns of black pepper mill
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 garlic clove

Once I had my Green Egg at about 450 degrees — you could go with as low as 350 — I chopped my romaine heads in half, rinsed them, patted them dry, and brushed them with olive oil. They already looked pretty tasty.

On the grill they went and in about 3-4 minutes, they were done to my liking — you can leave on longer if you want more char.

I drizzled with the dressing, sprinkled on shredded parmesan, and topped with a bit more ground black pepper. The second night I also threw a few capers on for fun.

About as easy as it gets in terms of effort and yet impressive on the plate — can’t beat that with a stick. Give ‘em a try.

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