This Gruyère caesar salad recipe has marinated mushrooms, Gruyère sourdough croutons, roasted garlic cloves & romaine lettuce in a Gruyère Caesar dressing.
I absolutely love Caesar salad. I was introduced to it in earnest when I lived in Canada – a version of this salad is available on pretty much every menu there, as I suspect it is in much of North America. My version has more than a few twists – I’ve replaced the anchovies with miso paste for a vegetarian alternative, as well as swapping the Worcestershire sauce for an anchovy-free version.
I also added some flavourful marinated mushrooms to the mix. The way you cook the mushrooms is really important – searing them until browned all over caramelises their flavourful liquids and builds loads of flavour. This is especially important when making vegetarian food, and I turn to this technique again and again when cooking this and other vegetables.
Garlic is infused into the salad in a variety of ways. A little is mixed with oil to season the sourdough croutons. The garlic in the Caesar dressing is first steeped in lemon juice, which ‘cooks’ the garlic and softens its bite (my new favourite technique!). Finally, roasted garlic is blended into the mushroom marinade and whole-roasted cloves are tossed with the lettuce.
The full recipe is available on Great British Chefs, who I also write for regularly.
