Texas Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons and Toasted Pecans

So evidently my husband did not know there are anchovies in Caesar Salad and evidently he discovered he likes them.  I like them too, but in small doses.  I am also kind of a wimp because I like mine to come from the tube instead of looking at their hairy little bodies in a can or jar, but that's just me.  The recipe is below.

My weekends are usually spent doing a few chores in the kitchen for the upcoming week.  It's hard to actually think of them as chores because I like doing them.  Invariably, I have left over Sour Dough and/or French Baguettes.  I hate to see it go to waste but God knows my waistline can take it all.  Although, I am sure, if I had to, I could live on French Bread.  So I make my own bread crumbs in my super crummy food processor, remember I am still on a quest to break it so I have to replace it.  Here she is.  Understand?    So I suffer.  Oh it's true.  Anyway, so we now have all the fresh bread crumbs I can use for a while.  The Sour Dough quickly turned into Garlic Croutons.

Texas Caesar Salad

(In Texas, most every meal has a pecan in it somewhere)

For Dressing:

1/2 C Parmesan Cheese, shredded

1 Tbl Anchovie Paste

3 Tbl Lemon juice

Grated lemon rind from half a lemon

3 large garlic cloves, large dice

2 Tbl Dijon Mustard

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3/4 C Good quality olive oil

For Salad and Pecans:

Three heads of Romaine, discard outer leaves and tear the rest into large bite size pieces

1/4 C Parmesan cheese, shredded

1/2 C Pecans

In the bowl of a food processor, combine cheese, anchovie paste, lemon juice, lemon rind, garlic, dijon and pepper.  Process on high and slowly pour olive oil in a stream to combine while processor is running.  Dressing will be thick.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Heat small saute pan on medium heat, place pecans in dry pan and toast. Set aside to cool.

In a large serving bowl with romaine, toss with dressing a little at a time until it is coated with a desired amount.  You will have some dressing left over, it should be sealed tight and will keep refrigerated for up to a week.  Garnish salad with remaining parmesan cheese, croutons and toasted pecans.  Ya'll enjoy!

Serves 4-6.  You can also add rotisserie chicken to salad to serve as a meal. Note:  I did not add raw egg to dressing because we had a guest for dinner I was unsure would want that.  This dressing is thick and rich enough that it stands alone fine without it.