Recipes

The Diplomat’s Caesar Salad

By Dane Baldwin
 

Dane Baldwin has a long relationship with the Caesar salad. It has followed him from cooking job to cooking job, he says. Now the owner of his own place – and a James Beard Award winner – Baldwin still pays homage to this salad, offering it on The Diplomat’s menu. “I didn't know what a Caesar salad was until I was 20 years old. And I look back on that. If that guy, who didn’t know what a Caesar salad was at 20 years old, can develop a career, then anyone can,” he says. Sure, you could go out and buy Caesar in a bottle, but try this recipe and see if the little bit of work is worth the bragging rights of making your own.” Enough said.

Ingredients

1 Serving

Dressing:

25 grams extra virgin olive oil

200 grams grapeseed oil

28 grams Greek yogurt

28 grams pasteurized egg yolk

30 grams lemon juice

10 grams red wine vinegar

6 grams capers, rinsed

1 clove garlic, minced

12 grams Dijon mustard

12 grams boquerones (anchovies)

25 grams Sartori Sarvecchio Parmesan (grated on a microplane)

4 grams kosher salt

1 gram ground black pepper

 

Salad:

*Romaine lettuce, such as red romaine

*Grated Parmesan cheese, such as Sartori Sarvecchio Parmesan. Use a microplane zester to grate.

*Croutons – homemade is best, he says. Baldwin usually pan-roasts his croutons – from their own sourdough bread – “a la minute” with butter, extra virgin olive oil and lemon. 

 

*Baldwin offers this as a guide. Feel free to use it as a springboard.

Instructions

Dressing:

Combine the oils and set aside. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a food processor. Process for 30 seconds. Turn off and scrape down the sides of the food processor. Turn on to continue blending, this time adding the oils at a slow stream to emulsify. Taste and confirm the seasoning. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

 

To assemble and plate:

In a bowl, dress the romaine lettuce with the Caesar dressing, a pinch of salt and some grated parmesan. (Adding a little parmesan in this step will help the Caesar dressing stick to the lettuce.) “Place on the plate and grate a good amount of parmesan on the salad. I like to think of it as a dusting of snow,” says Baldwin. Place the croutons around the salad and garnish with additional boquerones.

 

Note:

A Caesar salad purist would want their croutons to be tossed in with the salad and dressing, he says. But, Baldwin says, “I like to leave my croutons until plating, because sometimes they are still a bit warm, which I find pleasant, but will wilt the lettuce if tossed in.”

Bio

Before moving on to the kitchens of fine dining restaurants like Carnevor and Bartolotta-owned Bacchus, Dane Baldwin got his feet wet cooking at the old east side Milwaukee restaurant Gil’s café. Baldwin, the 2022 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Midwest and his wife, Anna, opened The Diplomat in 2017. The restaurant’s American menu, offering everything from chicken leg confit to a burger, is guided by seasonal flavors and local ingredients.

Dane Baldwin

The Diplomat

Dane Baldwin

The Diplomat

About The Diplomat
 

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