Caesar Salad w/Roasted Chicken, Corn, and Light Greek Yogurt Caesar Dressing

If someone among you doesn’t love Caesar salad, I dare you to speak up. Also, we can’t be friends. Just kidding… sort of.

This is truly a favorite recipe (here it is on my Pinterest). I found it about two years ago on a great blog I follow, how sweet it is (again I ask for validation of our friendship: if this blog’s tagline doesn’t speak to you, I don’t know what to tell you: “for people who, like, totally love to eat” – I mean! Yeah! I pin and make A TON of her recipes, so you need to get on board.). Anyway, the salad. Seriously. It’s awesome. I hadn’t made it in a really long time, and during a night of glorious insomnia recently, it popped into my head. It’s quick, it’s filling, and it makes a great dinner salad, or a side salad for a larger group. As usual, I use the original recipe as my base, but then add or tweak a thing or two and make it my own. So here you go:

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
* 2 ears of sweet corn (I had one leftover ear of corn, plus some frozen sweet white and frozen roasted sweet yellow, so I used all three)
* olive oil
* about 1C whole wheat bread cubes (I use 2-3 slices of regular old whole wheat sandwich bread)
* 6C  (or about a bag and a half) chopped romaine lettuce
*1/4t salt
*1/4t pepper
*shaved parmesan (for topping at serving)
*about a lb or so of roasted chicken (any way you like it… on this night I used precooked and sliced roasted chicken from the store. you could use a rotisserie and shred it up (nom!), or roast your own and cut it up – doesn’t matter. whatever you fancy’ll do just fine. or leave it out! the original recipe doesn’t include chicken.)

(for the dressing)
*4 cloves garlic (give or take), minced (I probably use 6 at least… always more garlic!)
*3T Greek yogurt (I thought I had Greek yogurt the other night, but it turned out someone [AHEM!] had finished it and neglected to mention it, so I used regular yogurt, plain, nonfat and added probably another Tablespoon, since Greek yogurt is so much thicker)
*2T grated parmesan cheese
*1T dijon mustard (I like to use the grainy kind for this recipe)
*2t red wine vinegar
*1/4t salt
*1/4t pepper
*1/2 a lemon, juiced
*1/2C olive oil

Note: There are a few ingredients in the original recipe that I leave out… She adds 4 minced anchovies to the dressing–I do not. She also brown-butters the bread before toasting it up and I don’t. Not because that wouldn’t be yum, but because I haven’t mastered brown butter, and also, frankly, I just don’t think it NEEDS to be there. Feel free to disagree and do your thing. Onward…

WHAT TO DO
First I preheat the toaster oven to 425F. Then I make the dressing.

Pull out the food processor and add the garlic, yogurt, grated parmesan, mustard, salt + pepper, and lemon juice. Blend until well pureed. Then, while the food processor is still on, slowly pour in the olive oil until it’s all incorporated and you’ve got yourself a delicious — and healthier! — Caesar dressing!

Yum. Set that puppy aside and get to the rest of it.

If you are roasting your own chicken, I’d get that going here. If not, move onto the next step here and we’ll get back to the chicken later.

Cut your corn off the cob or portion out frozen nibblets to the approximate quantity. Heat a little olive oil in a pan on the stove top, and then add the corn and saute on medium heat for no specific amount of time. I toss it around in the pan a few times, and make sure I start to get at least a little char on some of the corn, and when it’s heated through and smells ready to me, I pull it off the stove.

While the corn is doing its thing on the stove, slice your bread and then cube it. Then spread the cubes out on the toaster tray and pop into the toaster for just a few minutes to get it warmed and slightly toasted. Don’t leave it in longer than a few minutes. Or you could just toast it (in which case, don’t preheat your toaster as instructed earlier).

 
Whatever decision you’ve made regarding chicken, here is where I cut or shred mine up. And then, finally, you’re ready to assemble your salad.

In a large bowl, add your Romaine lettuce, then add the chicken, corn, and croutons:

Last but not least, grab the dressing and pour it generously over your salad. Toss it through to coat, and serve, topped with some additional shaved parmesan cheese. Seriously – you’ll love it. It’s mother in-law approved!

(Thank you to how sweet it is for the original recipe and inspiration! And again, here‘s the recipe on my Pinterest Board “Yummmmm: Apps + Salads + Sides“)