I had the most delicious plain Caesar side salad at a new restaurant in town recently (Blue Fig) and it made me realise I didn’t have a recipe on the site for one. Remedied! This is such a great lunch or supper dish but to make a really sublime one, every component needs to be chosen and prepared with care – I add leftover roast chicken and crispy bacon to make it more substantial. I had any number of recipes for the Caesar dressing but I really like this one I adapted from a Raymond Blanc recipe which uses ready-made mayo and takes minutes to prepare.

• Serves2
• 3 slices of sourdough (I used Wooster’s Wild)
• 1 tbsp light olive oil
• 6 slices of streaky bacon
• 1 chicken breast (I used leftover roast chicken) torn into pieces
• Pack of 2 Romaine lettuce, washed and thoroughly dried
• 10g Parmesan cheese
  • Caesar dressing: 4 tbsps mayonnaise (I used Stokes), 6 canned anchovies, 1 garlic clove, finely grated, 2 tsps white wine vinegar, black pepper

To make…

• First make the croutons. Preheat the oven to 200C. Trim the crusts off the sourdough and cut or tear each slice into small pieces. Place them in bowl and mix them thoroughly with the olive oil. Put the croutons on a flat metal baking tray, spread them out evenly and then bake in the oven until crisp and golden. This should take about 10 minutes but they can turn quickly so keep an eye on them. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. They keep well in an airtight container so make more than you need!
• Next, crisp the bacon. Cut it into 5mm thick lardons and fry them until crisp. Once crisp, put them aside on a plate to drain on some kitchen towel.
• To make the dressing, pound the anchovies to a smooth paste in a mortar and pestle. Add the grated garlic (I used a microplane grater) and the vinegar. Stir until everything is dissolved in the vinegar. Add the finely grated Parmesan, black pepper and the mayo. Mix thoroughly. Refrigerate until required. It will keep for a couple of days.
• To assemble the salad, first tear the lettuce into pieces into a bowl and spoon over the dressing . Toss gently so that every leaf is coated in the dressing. Scatter with bacon, chicken and croutons. You can add any leftover anchovies if you wish. Grate a little extra Parmesan over the salad. Serve.

Share, follow, like, enjoy!

• To get the latest #TheFridayRecipe from the Pigeon Cottage Kitchen blog, just add your email address to the subscribe box at the top right-hand column of the website. 
• Follow me on Twitter @pigeoncottage,  on Instagram at Pigeon Cottage Kitchen, and the Pigeon Cottage Kitchen page on Facebook.
• Click on the link to get your very own copy of my family recipe book, Whats4teaMum?

Book your one to one cookery coaching session here!