Homemade Caesar Dressing and the Giveaway Winner

First things first, the giveaway winner:

drumroll please.........


The winner of the silicone bakeware prize is:

Comment 1

Ohhhh I want to win!

The first thing I remember baking was a cookie when I was 4 at christmas. My gave me the leftover dough to make into cookies and I made it into one GIANT mess of a cookie. I covered it in obscene amounts of sprinkles etc. I actually still have a photo of this ridiculous cookie.
-Shawna
August 4, 2009 12:50 PM


Congratulations Shawna, I'll be contacting you via email.

And now the recipe.


I haven't bought Salad Dressing in a store in years... mostly cause it was a big ol' waste of money. I'd buy it with the best of intentions of having salads more often and I'd have 1 or 2 and then the bottle would languish in the fridge until the salad bug hit me again and I'd go to grab the bottle and it was waaaaaaaay past expiration, and then the cycle would start all over again. After about 10 bottle of basically full dressing went down the kitchen sink I gave up.

And then one weekend our friends Phil and PJ were visiting and my hubby asked Phil to make his famous Caesar dressing (famous to everyone but me I guess cause I had no idea Phil was a master dressing maker). So I watched intently (PJ actually made the dressing as she had been entrusted with the recipe) as I've never seen Caesar dressing made from scratch before, I thought it was just an urban legend! When we sat down for dinner I found salad nirvana. I had no idea dressing could be that fresh, that tasty, or that simple! I recently had a Caesar salad in a restaurant where they obviously used a bottled dressing and I could tell the difference with my eyes closed and my taste buds burnt off. There really is no comparison between bottled and homemade when it comes to dressing.

So thank you Phil. Thank you for sharing your fabulous recipe with me! Goodbye wasted bottles of chemically engineered dressing, and hello simple, natural ingredients.

Phil's Famous Caesar Dressing

1 egg
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced I use 2 cause I loves the garlic
1/2 c. oil, vegetable or canola olive oil really changes the taste
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. freshly grated parmesan please please please do NOT use that pre-grated stuff in the container, it's mostly flour and will not do this dressing justice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In a food processor or blender pulse egg and lemon juice until combined.
2. Lightly mince your garlic and add to the egg and lemon.
3. With blade spinning, slowly stream in the oil and allow to continue blending for 1-2 minutes.
4. While the mixture is blending add the vinegar and cheese and salt and pepper.
5. Transfer to a bowl or pitcher and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (1-2 hours is better) so the dressing has a chance to set and thicken.
6. Serve over crisp romaine lettuce, real bacon bits (trust me people), and croutons.