Confit Garlic Caesar with Focaccia Crouts

Gently cooking the garlic in olive oil allows for way more garlic-y flavor without the burn; but that doesn’t mean you can skimp on the ‘choves.

Dressing
6 garlic cloves
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 anchovies
2 egg yolks
juice of 1 large lemon
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/3 cup finely grated, loosely packed parmesan
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Crouts
8x8 square focaccia
1 clove garlic, grated
1 tbsp olive oil
salt

Salad
2 romaine hearts
crouts
dressing
1/2 cup shaved parm
anchovies to taste

TL;DR

• Confit garlic in olive oil over low heat

• Preheat oven to 400º. Tear Focaccia into 1-2 inch pieces. Grate garlic on top, add olive oil. Toss with hands. Bake for 10 minutes.

• Strain confit garlic from olive oil

• Mortar and pestle garlic, anchovy and salt until pastey

• Transfer to bowl and whisk with egg yolks, lemon juice, mustard, and pepper

• Stream in strained olive oil, whisking constantly until emulsified

• Stir in Parm

• Cut romaine into quarters and assemble salad

The Deets

Peel the 6 garlic cloves and smash each one hard with the side of your knife. In a small saucepan (a really tiny one, like a butter warmer if poss) combine the garlic and 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil and cook over low low heat, oil barely bubbling, for 10 minutes. The garlic will just get a tiny bit brown on the edges of the cloves. Remove the pan from the heat and let it sit for another 20 minutes to let it finish getting all soft and succulent.

To note: you want to be using really high quality extra virgin olive oil for this. There is a misconception that you can’t cook with olive oil, but the real rule is you can’t cook with crappy olive oil. If you can, find a specialty olive oil store that sources extremely fresh, high polyphenol, premium extra virgin olive oils. Even better, order online from Amphora.

Strain the garlic from the olive oil and set the oil aside.

Meanwhile, make the crouts. Preheat your oven to 400º. Use your hands to rip the 8x8 square focaccia into rough 1-2 inch pieces. Look for big craggy edges here. Spread the bread on a large baking sheet and add the 1 clove grated garlic on top along with the 1 tbsp olive oil. Use your hands again to combine the garlic and oil with your bread (it is just so amazing and therapeutic to just stick your hands in your food, and they are the best tool here, just do it). Don’t be afraid to really get in there and squeeze it. This helps to get the garlic infused into the bread. Pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes until lightly brown and crisp on the outside, but still chewy in the middle.

In a small mortar and pestle, combine the garlic, 2 anchovies and 1/4 tsp salt and smash until it turns into a pretty smooth, yet slightly chunky paste.

Plop that in a medium bowl and add the 2 egg yolks, juice of 1 large lemon, 1 tbsp mustard, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Whisk until nice and smooth.

Now this is the point where some recipes will tell you to drip in the olive oil one drop at a time while whisking obsessively. But due to the large amount of garlic and the film of olive oil that was left on the garlic from the confit, we don’t need to be that precious here. Just add the oil as a stream whisking as you go and everything will emulsify nicely. Do keep whisking for a little bit after you think you are done. More whisking = better.

Add the 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan and whisk to combine. And that is your dressing right there.

To assemble the salad, cut your 2 romaine hearts into quarters, vertically. Make sure to cut carefully so you leave a bit of the solid base on each quarter. Then pop the lettuce, fluffy side down, into your bowl with the dressing, and spoon the dressing, from the bottom, up over the length of the hearts, allowing it to drip between the leaves.

Then plate the hearts and top them with the parm, crouts and exactly as many ‘choves as you personally want.