Chicken Caesar Salad

It’s salad season and I’ve been keeping my fridge stocked with lots of greens so we can incorporate more salads in our meals. Our usual go-to salad is a healthy pile of greens with diced tomatoes, some cucumber, a good amount of crumbled blue cheese and Finn’s French dressing. But as much as we love our usual salad, it’s been nice to switch things up a bit. We recently opted for a more classic salad. Chicken Caesar Salad. A bed of crisp romaine lettuce is topped with seasoned chicken breast, a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and a dressing of garlic, vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard and anchovy paste to tie it all together…

I know there are folks there that probably saw anchovy paste and stopped reading. But that ingredient is one thing that adds something special to the dressing. It’s salty with a bit of depth. Without that component, I find the dressing to be a bit flat and bland. The great thing is anchovy paste comes in a tube (just like toothpaste!) and you can just squeeze the small amount in and not have to deal with little anchovies. Look for anchovy paste near the tomato paste tubes within the canned tomato aisle. If you are a fan of Caesar dressing, the recipe can be doubled easily and be made in advance too.

• Cooking spray
• 2 (8-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, halved lengthwise 
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 
• 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste
• 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce 
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan