‘Mise en place’ a French term that translates to “everything ready and in its place”, one must carefully sort and assemble equipment & ingredients in the recipe, as many components are required to prepare this salad.

Being more organized helps one to save time and avoid mistakes.

There are 3 steps that need to be followed to prepare and cook this dish, they are:

1. Collecting equipment.

2. Collecting ingredients as listed.

3. Preparing ingredients as instructed.

To produce Shrimp Caesar Salad, it is essential to have the right equipment, for example the green, blue and white color-coded chopping boards are required to prevent the bacteria from the raw seafood to cross contaminate the cheese or lettuce.

You will also require tongs to toss the shrimp in the grilling pan while grilling

Following are the equipment needed to produce the dish:

It is essential to use fresh shrimp over frozen shrimp, as fresh ingredients have a more natural taste, which will give the dish maximum flavor.

The main ingredients in a Caesar Salad are the lettuce, croutons, Parmesan Cheese and Caesar dressing.

The seasoned romaine and iceberg lettuce provide the crunchiness and texture, while the garlic scented croutons add a blast of flavor.

That paired with the mayonnaise and anchovies  from the dressing, provide richness to the salad.

Tip: If allergic to seafood, do not add anchovies to the dressing and diced grilled chicken can replace the shrimps (follow same recipe).

For knowledge of what you should essentially have in the kitchen, make sure to check out the Kitchen Staples section.

Following are the ingredients needed to produce the dish:

For Caesar Salad Dressing

For Garlic-Scented Croutons

It is important to prepare your ingredients in an organized flow, to achieve a successful outcome of the dish.

Even though this is a simple salad, the ingredients need to be measured out for each of the components in the dish, to get the right proportions.

Removing the shell and deveining the shrimps are a must. Leaving the tail of the shrimp on, will add to the presentation of the salad.

Tip: The yield of shrimps after peeling and deveining reduces by 60%, so when purchasing, order double the quantity needed. e.g :  if you need 100 g of cleaned shrimp, purchase 200-250 g of uncleaned shrimp.

Illustrated here are the methods used to prepare the ingredients for this recipe:

Now that the ingredients have been prepared, it is time to get cooking!

To produce the Shrimp Caesar Salad, the garlic scented slices of bread are cut into cubes and then baked in the oven, to make croutons. Shrimps should be grilled for a few minutes on each side, then the salad is tossed with the Caesar dressing to get an even coating

Illustrated here are the cooking/preparation techniques used in this recipe:

The Shrimp Caesar Salad is best presented in a plain white square or round serving plate. The contrast of the refreshing combination of green with shrimp and croutons against a plain white plate brings out the life of the dish.

Topping the salad with the shrimp, croutons and parmesan shavings will give the salad a mouth-watering appeal.

Tip: Toss the lettuce in the dressing, just before serving to get the best results. If you toss the lettuce in the dressing well in advance and store the salad, the lettuce will wilt and collapse.

Raw Ingredients

Ingredients such as garlic, salt & pepper must be stored in a dry place, away from moisture.

Lemon, Romaine lettuce and iceberg lettuce can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Parmesan cheese if well wrapped can be stored up to 6 months in the fridge, as it is a hard and well matured cheese.

Bottled Mayonnaise can be stored in the fridge until it expires. Homemade Mayonnaise is best used within a day or two.

Unopened canned anchovy fillets can be stored in a cool dry place, at room temperature, until it expires. Once opened, the contents must be transferred to a lidded container and can be kept in the fridge, where it can be stored for 1 to 2 weeks.

Raw fresh shrimp can be kept covered in the fridge for a maximum of 2 days.

Cooked Ingredients

Cooked shrimp can be placed in a lidded container or heavy duty zip lock bag in the fridge for up to 3 days and can last up to 3 months if stored in the freezer.

Leftover

It is not advisable to store the leftover of Shrimp Caesar Salad because of its components. The lettuce once tossed in dressing will not taste the same.

Ingredients

Shrimp Caesar Salad	Yield : 4 Portions
Ingredients	Quantity
Shrimp (peeled & deveined)	100 g
Olive oil	2 tbsp
Lemon (juice)	1 tbsp
Garlic (minced)	2 cloves
Salt & pepper	as required
Romaine lettuce (chopped)	1/4 head
Iceberg lettuce (chopped)	1/4 head
For Caesar Dressing
Mayonnaise (light)	2 tbsp
Anchovy fillets (rinsed, minced)	2 pieces
Parmesan cheese (grated)	2 tbsp
Lemon (juice)	1 tbsp
For Garlic-Scented Croutons
Bread	2 slices
Melted butter	1/3 cup
Garlic (finely minced)	4 cloves
Salt & pepper	as required

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F.

2. In a bowl, mix the minced garlic with melted butter, salt & pepper. Using a pastry brush lightly brush both sides of the bread with the butter mixture.

3. Cut the buttered bread into cubes, put on a baking tray and bake for 7-8 minutes or until croutons are crisp and brown.

4. Preheat a grill pan over a medium-high flame. Toss shrimp with the olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper, toss again and grill until cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

5. Transfer the shrimp to a plate and drizzle with the lemon juice.

6. In a mixing bowl, whisk the Mayonnaise, chopped Anchovy fillets, grated Parmesan and Lemon juice to make the Caesar dressing.

7. In a large bowl, toss the dressing with the lettuce until well coated.

8. Place the tossed lettuce in a serving dish, top with the croutons, shrimps and Parmesan shavings.