Grilled Hen Caesar Salad Recipe

By the spring and into the early fall, I search for any excuse to grill outdoors. In these cherished heat months, just about all the pieces my household eats comes off of the grill, even salads. One among my favourite grilled salad recipes that’s all the time a crowd-pleaser is my deeply flavorful twist on a traditional grilled hen Caesar salad. It’s savory and hearty sufficient to be served as the primary meal, and it is able to serve contemporary off of the grill in beneath 45 minutes.

My recipe begins with the traditional constructing blocks of the Caesar salad—chopped romaine lettuce, garlicky croutons, and a creamy dressing made with eggs, olive oil, lemon, Parmesan, Worcestershire sauce, and anchovies—plus grilled hen. This fundamental dish has grow to be a US restaurant staple, and generally it is a fairly uninspired affair. Whereas even the laziest mixture of savory, creamy, tangy, and crunchy elements continues to be scrumptious, there may be loads of alternative to make this so a lot better .

In my recipe, I infuse the salad with a country, smoky char by grilling each factor (besides the dressing—good luck grilling that). There are a number of key methods and modifications, although, to make sure the hen is juicy, the lettuce is not limp, and the grilled croutons flavorful. Listed below are my suggestions.

Hold the Dressing Traditional

I take advantage of Kenji’s traditional caesar salad dressing on this recipe. It’s wealthy with egg and Parmesan, and will get its signature savory depth from anchovy and garlic. Sure, the Caesar salad dressing used right here incorporates anchovies. Whereas it’s debatable if the unique caesar salad had anchovies or not, I believe they’re important for his or her briny, umami-rich taste. Be at liberty to regulate the variety of anchovies (and even omit them), and/or alter the quantity of Worcestershire sauce (which itself incorporates a small quantity of anchovy) to your style. 

In case you’re involved concerning the security of utilizing uncooked egg within the dressing, you may both buy already-pasteurized eggs, or as Kenji suggests, even pasteurize your eggs at house utilizing a sous vide circulator set at 135°F (57°C) for 2 hours.

The dressing comes collectively in only a few minutes, and may be made whereas the hen is brining and earlier than you exit to grill, or it may be made and refrigerated as much as two days forward, to attenuate indoor cooking prep whenever you’re able to grill. In case you’re strapped for time, or simply don’t really feel like making a home made dressing (though I strongly advocate you do, as home made is all the time greatest), you should use a store-bought Caesar salad dressing.

Prepare dinner Every thing Over a Sizzling Fireplace

In any recipe that includes grilling a number of parts that prepare dinner at totally different charges, it may be a problem to decide on the fitting warmth degree for the grill. That is much more true for a charcoal grill, the place you may’t rapidly alter a knob to vary the warmth degree as wanted.

Fortunately, on this recipe the answer was straightforward since all of the parts profit from excessive warmth. For a gasoline grill, merely hold the knobs on excessive; for a charcoal grill, use a full chimney (6 quarts) of charcoal briquettes and pour them over simply half of the coal grate. By concentrating the coals right into a smaller space, you could have an much more intense sizzling fireplace than if the coals have been unfold over all the coal grate. 

By cooking all the pieces over the coals on the warmer facet of the grill you guarantee deep browning whereas minimizing dehydration, the the case of the hen and bread, and wilting within the case of the romaine. Every thing cooks very quick, inside a couple of minutes, so be certain that to observe carefully whereas grilling, and transfer or flip the elements as wanted to construct a deep and even sear with out burning or overcooking the meals.

The right way to Guarantee Juicy, Flavorful Hen

Regardless of their reputation, hen breasts are arguably probably the most troublesome meats to grill. As a consequence of their irregular form and the way lean the meat is, it is all too frequent to for the breasts to dry out on the grill, leaving you with slabs of deeply seared chewy cardboard. With the fitting prep, although, this could simply be averted, and you may get incredible, juicy, and properly charred hen on the grill; it simply takes a bit of know-how.

Step one is to pound the breasts to a 1/2-inch thickness in order that they prepare dinner by evenly. This eliminates the skinny tapered finish of the hen breast turning leathery by the point the thick finish is cooked. Second, soaking the hen for half-hour in a potent “brinerade” seasons it to assist the hen retain its moisture whereas cooking.

Right here at Critical Eats, we often choose dry-brining protein over moist brining, for the reason that salt of a dry brine helps the hen retain moisture throughout cooking with out pumping it up with extra water. Not solely that, however we have demonstrated earlier than that most of the flavors in a marinade do not penetrate far into meat. I nonetheless had good purpose to succeed in for a properly seasoned, deeply concentrated marinade right here although, for the flavour it provides to the floor of the meat together with the improved browning it ensures. For this marinade, I combined salt with water, honey, and simply sufficient umami-rich fish sauce and soy sauce so as to add savory depth whereas echoing the flavour of the Caesar dressing. 

I like to recommend marinating the hen for no less than half-hour, however will probably be much more properly seasoned if left to marinate in a single day. (Since there are not any acids within the marinade, there’s no danger of denaturing the protein with a prolonged time within the marinade.) 

Proper earlier than grilling, it is best to coat the hen in a bit of oil to forestall the meat from sticking to the grill grate, and to prepare dinner it over a sizzling fireplace to additional ship deep browning rapidly, earlier than the inside has an opportunity to dry out.

Swap the Croutons for Grilled Baguette Slices

This change was a no brainer—so long as I am grilling, I would as properly make grilled “croutons” as a substitute of creating or shopping for extra conventional toasted croutons. Skinny slices of a baguette toast up rapidly on the grill.

The char of the grill is not the one method so as to add taste right here. I additionally rub the bread with garlic when it is simply sizzling off the grill. The garlic melts into the bread whenever you do that, including unimaginable taste. I’m a agency believer that each factor of a salad needs to be seasoned, so don’t neglect to evenly sprinkle salt and freshly floor black pepper over the grilled “croutons” as properly.

You need to use the grilled bread for scooping up the lettuce whereas consuming, or crumble the items over your salad earlier than tucking into it.

Rapidly Char the Romaine

In my expertise, lettuces, particularly sturdy ones like romaine, are great when grilled. Romaine lettuce leaves soften barely at their facilities and char fantastically at their suggestions when grilled correctly whereas nonetheless retaining some construction. Their mildly bitter char is a effective counterpart to the savory wealthy Caesar dressing.

The secret is to keep away from limp, soggy lettuce. To make sure the romaine retains some crisp texture and doesn’t whither, use simply the agency, compact romaine hearts for grilling, halve them by their core, and grill reduce facet down over a sizzling fireplace so that they decide up char quick earlier than wilting.

I’ve additionally discovered that brushing the romaine coronary heart halves with a small portion of the Caesar dressing blended with extra oil prevents the leaves from sticking to the grill whereas additionally seasoning the lettuce. Ensure that to color the dressing into the crevices between the leaves, in order that whereas the lettuce caramelizes barely on the outside, there may be nonetheless a small quantity of heat creamy dressing inside.

I like to serve this grilled Caesar salad in a country, deconstructed presentation, much like a wedge salad: I go away the halved romaine hearts intact, to spotlight the char on the leaves, and shingle skinny hen slices over prime, with a number of of the grilled baguette slices on the facet. Drizzle all of it with extra dressing, and do not forget to serve it with the charred lemon halves— the charred lemon shouldn’t be solely beautiful however provides a pleasant last pop of acidity to the salad. It’s a hearty knife and fork salad that has savory Caesar taste and char in each chunk.