chicken caesar salad

Creamy avocado, succulent chicken, crunchy croutons and lettuce, tasty parmesan mayonaise dressing. Yum yum.  A marriage made in heaven in my eyes...

The recipe I use for making a basic mayonnaise is by 'Jamie Oliver'.  I like his recipe because he only uses one egg yolk so hence it is not too eggy in flavour.

The recipe goes as follows

1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt to taste
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
285mls peanut oil ( I use grapeseed as I think peanut oil is too strong)
258mls olive oil

I don't use all that amount of oil, as I think it makes to much.
I hand whisk and just add equal quantities of oil and stop when I have as much as I need.

"Mayonnaise can be be made in a food processor, by hand with a whisk and a bowl, or in a food mixer.  Put the egg yolk, mustard,  3 small pinches of salt, vinegar and lemon juice into a bowl and whisk until the salt has dissolved.  Whisking fast, add small drops of the oil bit by bit, so the egg can emulsify with it.  ( If you add it too fast it could split.)  When you've added a quarter of the oil it will start to look like mayonnaise, and you can add the oil slightly quicker.  If at any point it does split, just pour a tablespoon of boiling water in the mayonnaise and that should re-emulsify it.  When you've added all the oil, the mayonnaise should look thick, creamy and slightly yellow.  At this point you should check for seasoning."

At this point I add 1/2 a cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese, 1/2 teaspoon of caster sugar and a smidgeon of finely grated garlic, Probably 1/8 of a teaspoon.  Adding the cheese thickens it up.

Make sure your egg is at room temperature before you start, as if it is cold there is a great chance of it splitting.  I have been known to cry on more than 1 occasion when my mayonnaise has split.  I then just give up.  I was very pleased that I was successful this time.

For the croutons, slice 1-2 day old baguette wafer thin.  They are much nice and crunchy this way.
Bake in a 200C oven for just 2-3 minutes.  Keep an eye out as you don't want them too brown.

To assemble the salad.
Firstly I coat the lettuce leaves in a small amount of the dressing in a separate bowl, so as to keep the salad bowl clean.  I used cos and frilly lettuce, but iceberg would be good as well.
Now put some lettuce leaves down in the salad bowl, then some sliced avocado, croutons and chicken, then repeat.
Finally add some more dressing if you wish.
This would be gluten free if you didn't add the croutons.