Chicken Caesar Lettuce Cups

Chicken Caesar Lettuce Cups: Step by Step

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1. Pat the chicken dry, rub with the oil, salt and pepper, and sear in a hot pan 5 minutes on the first side and 4 on the second, until it reads 68°C / 154°F.

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2. Rest it 5 minutes on a board while you make the dressing. It carries on to 74°C / 165°F as it sits.

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3. Mash the anchovies and garlic to a paste with the flat of a knife.

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4. Whisk the paste with the egg yolk, lemon juice and mustard in a bowl.

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5. Add the olive oil a few drops at a time to begin with, whisking constantly, then in a thin steady thread once it starts to thicken.

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6. Stir in the grated Parmesan and pepper. It should coat a spoon; loosen with a teaspoon of water if it is stiffer than that.

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7. Slice the chicken across the grain, toss it through half the dressing, and pile it into the cos leaves with the rest spooned over and the Parmesan shavings on top.

   Mark done

Related guide: Rescuing a split sauce.

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Things to Watch For

1. Add the oil slowly at the start. Almost every split Caesar dressing splits in the first tablespoon.
2. If you cannot get pasteurised or Lion-stamped eggs, use shop-bought mayonnaise as the base instead.
3. The dressing is better made an hour ahead and left in the fridge — the garlic and anchovy settle down.

Ingredient Swaps

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

The Short Version

A Caesar dressing is an emulsion, and it splits when the oil goes in too fast — the anchovy and egg yolk need it added in a thin thread while you whisk. Anchovy is not optional and is not a garnish: it is the salt and the savour of the dressing, and a Caesar without it tastes like mayonnaise with cheese in.

To Go With It

A cold Chablis · A soft-boiled egg on the side · Sourdough, for anyone not counting carbohydrate

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Creamy Coleslaw, Boston Baked Beans, 3 Ingredient Biscuits.

Leftovers

Dressing refrigerates 2 days in a sealed jar; chicken 3 days. Do not dress the leaves ahead — they collapse within twenty minutes.

What's in a Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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