Salad of roasted lettuce hearts and anchovies Caesar sauce

Total: 25 min Diners: 2

Grilled buds are all the rage in Spain. I know, but I see them in more and more places. As well as using them as ssäm as in the case of Dabiz Muñoz’s pancetta ssäm or that Caesar salad in buds that they make in the new Papua. I’ve also seen them in a sort of Caesar salad unit in the newly released AsiaKO so taking a little here and there and opening the fridge I decided to assemble a salad of buds with a sort of versioned Caesar sauce, roasted tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes.

In Spain, this salad has caught on to everyone and is loved by young and old alike, knowing that the possibilities with it are almost endless. We’ve seen it with grilled chicken and also with fried chicken, with bacon, with croutons, with iceberg lettuce and also with cabbage, although the authentic and truthful one from Hotel Caesar is just one.

Lettuce heads are fresh, allow us to buy small quantities and store well in the fridge so I always encourage you to cook with them. They are perfect for holding a prawn cocktail and also for making octopus salads and, on this occasion, you will find that they are ideal grilled as a base for a salad but also lightly dressed as an accompaniment to any meat or fish.

They will be the base of today’s salad, topped with a sauce made from anchovies in vinegar, mayonnaise, vinegar, honey and herb mustard, roasted cherry tomatoes, dried tomatoes and grated cured cow cheese. A different salad, very colorful and tremendously surprising that you can then version with the additions that you feel like or that you find in the fridge.

How to make a salad of lettuce hearts with Caesar sauce

Ingredients

For the sauce

. Small anchovies in vinegar, 8 pcs Mahonnaise, 2 tablespoons Herb green mustard, 1/2 teaspoon Honey, 1/2 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar, a few drops Salt, c/s Water, to taste Lettuce hearts, 2 pcs Cherry tomatoes kumato type, 8 pcs Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons Oregano, a pinch Salt, c/s Sun-dried tomatoes, 2 pcs Cured cow cheese, 20 g

Step 1

Place the cherry tomatoes on an ovenproof tray, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, salt and oregano and bake at 200 ºC for 20 minutes. Be careful because this depends on each oven, we will have to take them out when we see that the skin on top begins to toast a lot. Let them cool completely.

Step 2

Cut the buds lengthwise in three slices, or also in halves, but a bud allows us to cut it well in three without problem.

Heat some oil in a griddle and brown, over high heat, the buds on both sides. Finish with a little salt and black pepper so that they already have their seasoning. Set aside to assemble the rest of the salad.

Step 3

Prepare the sauce. To do this, finely chop the anchovies in vinegar with the help of a knife or crush them with a mortar to make a kind of paste. Mix these anchovies with the mayonnaise, herb mustard, honey and balsamic vinegar and stir well. Add salt to taste. If the sauce is too thick, add a few drops of water.

Step 4

Place the lettuce hearts on a plate and spread the anchovy sauce over them, making sure it touches each one. Also place on the salad the roasted cherry tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes that we will chop either with your hands or with the knife, the idea is that they are distributed throughout the salad.

Step 5

Grate the cheese on top of the salad and serve immediately, it is a warm salad but not hot.

Tricks and suggestions

We could make this same salad by adding sautéed or fried chicken, very crispy bacon or even some sautéed beet cubes. If we want to give a more special touch to our sauce we could use a truffled mayonnaise or also a spicy hit that will give joy to the whole.