Avocado Caesar

Although I've never posted a salad recipe, I consider myself an expert salad maker :). One of the main reasons we call Dolce an omnivore is he likes lettuce and even ARUGULA! I've never heard of another dog that will eat arugula :). I'll try to start putting up all of my salad creations. I made this up on the fly to go with chicken enchiladas at a dinner party last week and it was a big hit. It was a nice light substitute for rice and beans in an already heavy meal of enchiladas.

With avocado, cheddar and homemade breadcrumbs, how could you go wrong? The avocado is a great way to create a thick creamy dressing without adding any buttermilk or mayo. We've been using the avocado dressing all week as a sandwich spread with turkey pastrami... YUM!

Avocado Caesar
Serves 4

2 heads of romaine lettuce, cut in half and then into 1 inch strips
1 cup cheddar cheese
Homemade croutons:

• 1 baguette or loaf of french bread
• 3 tbs olive oil
• salt

Avocado dressing:

• juice of 2 limes
  
• Avocado
  
• 1/3 cup olive oil
  
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic
  
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 to 3/4 cup water to thin
  

Preheat the oven to 375F. For the croutons: Cut the baguette into bite sized pieces (I like big 1 inch cubes, but smaller works too :). You want about 2 cups of croutons. Toss with enough olive oil to coat - this may be more or less than 3tbs - and about a teaspoon of salt. Bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes or until golden. Check and turn over every 5 minutes until done. WARNING: Set a timer!! I am notorious toasting things and assuming I'll remember to keep an eye on it because I'm doing something else in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, combine the ingredients for the dressing and a 1/4 cup of the water in a blender and puree. Slowly add up to 1/2 cup more of water to thin the dressing to your desired consistency (adding more olive oil would make it thicker and way too oily). I left it pretty thick to coat the croutons and greens since this is dressing is the star of the salad.

Just before serving toss together the romaine, cheese, and croutons. Then sprinkle with black pepper and enough dressing to coat and toss again.

Enjoy and let me know how it turns out if you try it!