HFG Caesar salad

Variations

If you don’t have cos lettuce, iceberg lettuce will do. The main aim is to have leaves that are strong enough to hold the dressing. Don’t use mesclun salad mix or baby spinach as these do not have the strength and crunch that this salad requires.

HFG tip

Healthy cooking habits

Use wholemeal bread for the croutons. This has more fibre.

Make croutons by grilling. Normal croutons are deep-fried, meaning they absorb a lot of the oil they are cooked in. Brushing the bread with oil, grilling and then cutting into croutons, produces a similar result with much less fat.

Reduce the quantity of parmesan cheese. This cuts down on the fat (particularly saturated fat) content of the salad. The parmesan flavour is an integral feature of this dish; cutting back more than the quantities in the makeover version will compromise its integrity.

Use lean bacon. Eating processed meat has been linked to an increased risk of colorectal cancer, so enjoy it only very occasionally, if at all. When using bacon, choose one where the fat is around the outside of the lean portion rather than throughout it, eg, choose a Danish version rather than streaky. Trim off any fat so you are just using the lean portion of the rasher.

Drain fat from anchovies, and reduce quantity. Anchovies are very high in salt, and stored in oil. Drain well from the oil by blotting with kitchen paper. To remove some of the salt, soak them in milk for 10 minutes before using. Drain, wash afterwards and discard the milk.

Replace the egg yolk with light mayonnaise. Raw egg is commonly infected with Salmonella bacteria which can cause food poisoning; cooking kills these bacteria and renders them harmless. The eating of raw egg, or products containing it, is not recommended. Replacing it with light mayonnaise in this recipe gives the dressing the creaminess that would otherwise come from the egg yolks. Light mayonnaise has much less fat compared to regular mayonnaise.