Triple Grilled Caesar Salad

This a great, refreshing salad for the summer – cool, crisp, and a hint of smoke. It combine three great grilled ingredients – grilled chicken, grilled homemade croutons, and grilled hearts of romaine lettuce, then topped with a fresh Caesar dressing a little shredded parmesan. Enjoy!

Serves 4.

Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

-    4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-    About 1 tablespoon olive oil
-    Salt
-    Pepper
-    About 2 teaspoons each of Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes

Directions:

1.    Brush chicken with olive oil.
2.    Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes.
3.    Grill for about 15 minutes, covered, turning once. Chicken is ready when the juices run clear.

Grilled Croutons

Ingredients:

-    ½ baguette, cut into slices about one-third of an inch thick
-    1 tablespoon olive oil
-    1 teaspoon Italian season

Directions:

1.    Stir Italian seasoning into olive oil.
2.    Brush both sides of each baguette slice with olive oil mixture.
3.    Grill slices over direct heat for about 3 minutes, turning once, until gold and crispy on each side.

Grilled romaine

Ingredients:

-    2 hearts of romaine, cut in half lengthwise
-    1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

1.    Brush lettuce with olive oil.
2.    Grill lettuce for about 2 minutes on each side. You want it to get a little crispy without wilting.

Caesar dressing

Ingredients:

-    4 cloves garlic, crushed
-    ½ cup olive oil
-    2 tablespoons mayonnaise
-    1 teaspoon lemon juice
-    1 tablespoon white vinegar
-    1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
-    About ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper

Directions:

1.    In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together garlic, olive oil, mayo, lemon juice, vinegar and mustard.
2.    Add salt and pepper to taste.

Putting it all together:

1.    Roughly chop grilled lettuce and toss with dressing. Plate lettuce.
2.    Slice grilled chicken and place over lettuce.
3.    Top chicken and lettuce with croutons.
4.    Sprinkle with shredded parmesan and enjoy!

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Challenge accepted - grilled lettuce

Tonight I accepted my first challenge – grilled lettuce.  I went with hearts of Romaine, and it was not only really easy, but tasted amazing.  Even our dog, who has shunned lettuce in the past, tore into the scraps.

I kept it really simple – just a little olive oil, some salt and pepper, and little cheese on top.

Ingredients (serves 2):

One heart of Romaine
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Cheese (optional)

Directions:

1.    Cut the Romaine heart in half.  Brush both sides of each half with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2.    Place the two halves, flat side down, on the grill.  Cook for a few minutes until it’s good and crispy.
3.    Flip the lettuce over.  If you want cheese, go ahead and add some over the top now (I used shredded mozzarella).  Cook a few more minutes until the bottom side is crispy, then remove.

I’m sure it would be great with any salad dressing, but we enjoyed it with just the olive oil, salt and pepper, and ate it with cheesy grilled chicken pitas.

 Trust me - this picture does not do the final product justice.

Next time, we’re going to try it in a grilled chicken Caesar salad – where the “grilled” applies to both the chicken and the salad.

Challenge one complete!  Can't wait for new ideas.