You can serve this classic salad as a main meal, but the great thing about it is you can eat a salad while still having a braai.

Chicken Caesar salad

(Serves four)

What you need

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 head romaine lettuce, torn apart and washed (if you can’t find one use normal lettuce)
• 2 cups white bread, cubed into 1×1 cm blocks
• 5 tots olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
• 1 egg
• 2 tots red-wine vinegar
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tsp Worcester sauce
• 1 tsp mustard
• 3 anchovy fillets (optional)
• 1 tsp capers, drained (optional)
• salt and pepper
• 3 tots Parmesan cheese, grated or shaved

What to do

To make the croutons, mix two crushed garlic cloves with two tots of olive oil and mix that with the cubed bread. Spread the bread cubes out on a baking tray and bake at 180°C for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

To make the dressing, boil the egg for one minute, no longer. Remove from the water and let it cool off. This is called ‘coddling’. Now mix the remaining garlic, the vinegar, lemon juice, Worcester sauce, mustard, anchovies and capers. Whisk everything together and then add the egg. Whisk again. Now slowly, and bit by bit while continuously whisking, add the remaining three tots of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Braai the four chicken breasts over a high heat until done. Remove from the fire, let them rest a few minutes and slice. (For a more comprehensive description on how to braai chicken breasts, see my book.)

To assemble the salad, add the lettuce leaves, croutons and half of the dressing to a bowl and toss. Top with the chicken pieces and Parmesan cheese. Serve with the remaining dressing on the side.

Tip

There is some half-raw egg in the sauce so first, don’t mention it to your guests, and second, eat the salad on the day you make it. Alternatively, you can just leave the egg out of the recipe.

Photo by Matthys van Lill.