[Week 13] The Speediest Caesar Dressing You Will Ever Make

Plus A Food Processor Hack You Might Not Know About

Hello Farm Share Friends,

Something that has astonished me these past few weeks is how well the romaine lettuce has held up. Last night I pulled two heads of lettuce from the fridge, one from two weeks ago, one from last week, hoping I might be able to salvage enough leaves from each to make a decent sized salad.

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. To prep the lettuce, I pulled away a few tired-looking outer leaves and trimmed away a few scraggly tips. I chopped up the remaining heads, which yielded enough greens for two nights of salads, and passed them through the salad spinner in several batches.

With such crisp, firm, bright green leaves on hand, caesar salad was calling. Pressed for time, I turned to an old favorite caesar dressing recipe, one made without mayonnaise, parmesan, Worcestershire or — brace yourself — lemon juice. It’s a simple mix of garlic, anchovies, egg yolk, vinegar, and olive oil, and it’s lighter than most caesar dressings out there, but no less tasty.

If caesar dressing without lemon sounds like heresy, I hear you. But on a night when even juicing a lemon feels like too much work, I promise you will find this dressing to be a godsend.

It comes together in a snap in the food processor, though you of course could whisk it together by hand, and it employs my favorite food processor hack: instead of streaming the oil through the large opening while the blade spins, you pour it through the tiny hole of the food pusher insert:

Friends, do you know this hack? Would you dare make caesar dressing without lemon? I hope you’ll give both a whirl (🤣). The dressing recipe is below.

---

This week I’ll shoot to use the arugula and dill earlier in the week. I’ll store the scallions on the countertop (in a glass filled with a little bit of water), and I’ll store the tomatoes and squash on the countertop as well.

Week 13 Vegetables

• eggplant → Eggplant Recipes

• acorn squash → Squash Recipes

• cabbage → Cabbage Recipes

• dill → Herb Recipes

• tomatoes → Tomato Recipes

• kale → Kale Recipes

• scallions → Scallion Recipes

• peppers → Pepper Recipes

• head lettuce & arugula → Salads

Find recipes for all the vegetables here → Farm Share Vegetables

---

8 Recipes to Make This Week

Thank you, Erinn, as always for sending along such inspiring ideas.

Crunchy Ramen Noodle Salad

Eggplant Involtini

Pepperonata: Sweat peppers and onions (2:1 ratio) together in olive oil with salt over low heat covered for 30 minutes. Uncover, and sauté until meltingly tender, another 30 minutes. Add garlic, capers, and a splash of vinegar. Taste. Adjust seasoning as necessary.

Spicy Chinese Eggplant Stir Fry

From Dinner a Love Story’s Newsletter: Cold Noodle and Cabbage Salad

Tomato Egg Stir Fry

Roasted Acorn Squash with Maple Butter

---

Simplest Caesar Dressing

This dressing would be great with both the head lettuce and kale this week.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic

• 6 olive oil-packed anchovy fillets

• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 large egg yolk

• 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar

• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor, purée the garlic and anchovies with the salt, scraping down at least once, until finely minced.

2. Add the egg yolk and vinegar and purée again. With the motor running, pour the oil directly into the food pusher insert (provided it has a tiny hole at the bottom) and process until the oil is completely emulsified.

3. Taste the dressing and add more salt or vinegar to taste. If the mixture is too thick, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water — I typically add 2 tablespoons of water — and purée to combine. The dressing should be the consistency of heavy cream.

---

Fellow Farm Sharers: Please share in the comments links to recipes you are loving for your farm share vegetables! Tips, questions, and suggestions are always welcome, too. Enjoy your vegetables! 🥦🥬🥒🌶🌽🥕 See you next week :)