Chicken and Pasta Caesar Salad

I think it's entirely possible that Bobby married me for access to my mother's Caesar salad recipe.  And key lime pie.  But more on pie later.

This recipe is a slight derivation from her original Caesar recipe, in that I've added ingredients to make this version a 'meal salad' instead of a 'side salad'.  It's basically something I made up to combine her delicious salad with one of my favorite dishes at Amerigo's (is Amerigo's still around even?  We had one in Louisville for a while but it closed!  That would be a shame because Amerigo's was delicious!)

And don't worry, there's no anchovies.

Chicken and Pasta Caesar Salad

• 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed

• 1/2 c (ish...) of EVOO

• Several handfuls of romaine lettuce or enough to fill the bowl (or spinach...we use spinach for pretty much everything)

• 1 egg yolk

• 1/4 c lemon juice

• 1 handful shredded parmesan cheese

• 1 package chicken tenders, grilled and chopped

• 1 1/2 c shell pasta, cooked

• 2-3 Tbs of jarred pesto OR another 2-3 Tbs of EVO and a few dashes of dried basil flakes

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Croutons if desired

I'll start out by apologizing for the lack of exact ingredients!  I think I've just made my mom's Caesear salad so often I completely eyeball everything.

In a large salad bowl, add crushed garlic to the bottom.  Pour EVOO on top of the garlic--enough so that it coats most, if not all, of the bottom of your salad bowl.  And a few sprinkles of salt (we use no-salt seasoning) and pepper.  Let that sit while you grill the chicken tenders and boil the pasta.  We use a George Forman grill for chicken tenders usually, but you could also chop and cook in a skillet with a little EVOO if you don't have a Forman grill.  Or bake them if you have more time...but who has that?

When the pasta is done, drain it and let it cool in the colander for a little while.  Same with the chicken--let it cool for a while before chopping.  

Add lettuce or spinach to the salad bowl.  Top with parmesan and croutons.  Then add chopped chicken.  Once the pasta has cooled a little bit, move it to a small mixing bowl and combine with jarred pesto.  If you don't have pesto, you can add a few Tbs of EVOO and some dried basil flakes and it turns out great.  Basically you just want to get a little something on the pasta so it isn't dried out when you add it to the salad.  Add pasta to the bowl.

Place egg yolk in a small bowl and discard the shell and egg white.  Add 1/4 (ish...) cup of lemon juice (I typically go with fresh squeezed if you've got some lemons around) and whisk together quickly with yolk.  My mom calls this process 'coddling' I think.  She has assured me through the years that combining the yolk with lemon juice somehow, sort of...cooks it.  I've been eating her Caesar salad my whole life, so I'll get on board and assure you it's totally fine!  And really, it's not like we don't all eat cookie dough ya know?  All the same...my pregnant friends should probably not make this dish :-)

Once the egg and lemon juice are well whisked, pour on top of salad.  Mix thoroughly and serve immediately.  It's insanely good.