Brian @ Wongside

Today marks the anniversary of our Independence from Great Britain over 230 years ago. Happy Birthday, America.

A special shout out to all of our military men and women who are serving our country and fighting for the freedoms that so many of us take for granted. And thank you to those families who have lost loved ones because of their service to our country. We are forever indebted to you.

So the Ribeye Caesar Salad was such a hit, I figured I’d try my own Chicken Caesar Salad, substituting sauteed chicken for the steak. Disaster only struck me because I seasoned my chicken too heavily. It turned the whole salad into a salty mess. I should have listened to my intuition that said it was sufficiently seasoned, but when I pulled it off the heat, it didn’t look like there was enough seasoning. So I added additional salt and pepper, which were both excessive.

You can pretty much follow yesterday’s recipe for this, just substituting the sauteed chicken from below:

2 large boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 tsp Rib Roundup Seasoning
1 Tbsp canola oil

1. Trim the remaining fat and skin from the thighs, and cut into 1/2-1 inch cubes.
2. Season lightly with seasoning. If it looks like too much seasoning, it probably is. It should have less salt than you think you need because of the saltiness of the croutons and the Parmesan cheese.
3. Put the oil into a skillet and heat on high over the stove.
4. When the oil is hot, add the chicken, and saute until cooked through, about 5-10 minutes.
5. Add the chicken to yesterday’s salad recipe in place of the steak.

Here’s a picture of the finished product:

Enjoy!

I came across this recipe while watching my favorite cooking show: Good Eats. It’s for Alton Brown’s Hail Caesar Salad. The cool thing about it is that everything is made from scratch, including the croutons and the dressing. Most caesar salads I’ve made or seen use boxed/packaged croutons and dressing from a bottle.

So you can click over to the Food Network site to get Alton’s original recipe. But I made it last night with a few modifications (some were accidentally erroneous). The croutons were actually left over Garlic Bread made using Aunt Allie’s famous garlic bread recipe. But here’s how I made it last night:

1/2 baguette of Aunt Allie’s Garlic Bread
4-5 Tbsp olive oil
2 hearts of Romaine Lettuce
3/4 lb Ribeye steak cooked medium well
2 eggs
1 lemon, juiced
pinch of sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
6 drops Worchestershire sauce

1. Season the ribeye with salt and pepper, or your favorite dry rub.
2. Cook the Ribeye in a hot cast iron skillet, about 5 minutes on each side.
3. Slice into 1/2-inch cubes and refrigerate.
4. Cut the leftover garlic bread into 1/2 to 3/4-inch cubes, and place into a 350-degree toaster oven for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown and delicious. Be careful not to burn them.
5. Place about 1.5 inches of water in a small sauce pan, and bring to a boil.
6. Add the eggs and cook for one minute. (Don’t crack the eggs into the water like I did. That’s just a recipe for some ugly egg drop soup. Instead, leave them whole.)
7. Chill in ice water to stop the cooking.
8. In a large salad bowl, chop the lettuce into about 1-inch pieces and toss with 2 Tbsp of olive oil.
9. Season with salt and pepper. Add the remaining olive oil.
10. Add the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and eggs.
11. Toss until a creamy dressing forms.
12. Add the croutons and the steak.

Of course, feel free to serve it with additional Parmesan cheese. I love cheese–the more the merrier. But Charlene isn’t as much of a fan, so I omitted it this time, especially since there’s Parmesan on the garlic bread.