Mexican "Caesar" salad

Technically, a Caesar salad is "a salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and black pepper."

This is therefore not a Caesar salad, however having a creamy dressing, romaine lettuce, Parmesan cheese and some lime juice gives it some similarities.

One cool supermarket discovery I recently made is jarred chargrilled capsicums (the ones that aren't stored in sugar or any strange ingredients).  They are such a handy item to keep in your refrigerator and a heap cheaper (and easier) than chargrilling fresh ones yourself at around $6 a jar.  If you would like to roast your capsicums yourself though, feel most free!

This dish was inspired by about ten different recipe books of mine ranging from What Katie Ate (thanks Jessie and Saz), to Annabel Langbein's new book Cook through the seasons (thanks Mum).  I tend to go a little overboard on the research at times!




Mexican "Caesar" Salad
For the salad:
1 romaine lettuce, roughly cut
1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
2 avocados, sliced
Handful of broccoli sprouts
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
1/2 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
Handful of fresh coriander
2 large jarred capsicums, sliced

Spicy chicken:
2 chicken breasts
1 lime, halved
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 Tbsp black pepper

Creamy avocado yoghurt dressing:
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup fresh coriander
Juice of 2 limes
40g Parmesan cheese, grated
4 heaped tsp plain yoghurt
1 ripe avocado
2 slices of jarred jalepeno peppers (i.e. not too much!  enough to add a bit of spice)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp olive oil

To make:

1. Place spices for the lime chicken (including garlic powder, smoked paprika, allspice, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper) in a bowl and mix.
2. On a large sheet of baking paper, toss the chicken with the spice mix to coat fully, fold over the paper and bash with a rolling pin to flatten the chicken to about 1.5cm thick (Jamie Oliver trick) 
3.  Add lime halves to a pre-heated griddle pan (cut side down) and cook for a couple of minutes until caramelised.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
4. Next add your chicken to the pan, turning after 3-4 minutes and squeeze the lime over this as it cooks.  Once chicken is cooked through, cover in tinfoil and let rest.
5. Put all the dressing ingredients in a food processor/blender and whiz up.  I have quite a good food processor (thanks mum), if yours is a bit slower it may help to finely chop the garlic and coriander first. 
6. Lay the lettuces on a large serving board or platter.  Scatter over remaining salad ingredients.
7. Cut the chicken into slices and add to the salad. 
8. Drizzle with the dressing and enjoy!