Caesar Salad with Cornbread Croutons

I am always on the lookout for new ways to dress up salads. When our large family gets together, a traditional caesar salad is always on the menu.

If you like a traditional caesar salad but don’t like using raw eggs, this updated caesar’s for you!

Cornbread croutons add an unexpected boost of flavor and crunch.

Save time by making cornbread a few days ahead or buy croutons (Trader Joe’s sells some yummy garlic cheese croutons and crouton rounds in the salad dressing aisle).

Flavor boost #2: Replace raw garlic with the rich, mellow taste of Roasted garlic. Easy to make at home, it’s also easier on your breath and digestion:

On a baking sheet lined with foil, separate a few heads of garlic into cloves and toss with olive oil and a little kosher salt. Cover and bake at 350 F  for 25 -30 minutes. Let cool, then squeeze garlic out of the shells into a container. Cover, refrigerate and use in place of fresh.

This salad recipe is adapted from a new cookbook called Genius Recipes: 100 recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook by Food52.com’s Kristen Miglore. The book is full of exciting recipes that are easy, beautiful and delicious.  We all need new ways to stretch our cooking savvy, right? I’ll be sharing more adaptations of these genius recipes in the coming months.

In addition to roasted garlic, I’ve replaced traditional anchovy fillets with a few dabs of anchovy paste. You can find anchovies and anchovy paste in the Italian cooking aisle of your grocery store.

Whisk the garlic and anchovy paste together first, to break up the clumps, then add in the rest of the dressing ingredients. For a smoother, slightly thicker dressing, use a blender.

This dressing makes a great alternative to ranch and keeps in the refrigerator for a few weeks.  Other uses: serve caesar dressing with raw or roasted vegetables or as a dip with cheese, crackers and fruit.

Make the cornbread and the dressing ahead of time for a fast fresh Caesar that comes together in minutes. Now that’s genius.

Share YOUR own genius recipes with #diginwithdana or add comments and super star ratings below. DIG IN!

[tasty-recipe id=”7677″]