Everybody’s grilling romaine lately, and it’s delicious all on its own as a side, but this recipe takes it a step further. The grilled romaine is chopped and combined with roasted garlic and parmesan cheese. This mixture – along with a lusciously runny poached egg becomes the filling that’s tucked inside a larger piece of romaine. Such a versatile recipe – this could easily be breakfast or lunch, or it would make a fun appetizer for a dinner party. You can even make it into a standalone dinner by adding chopped chicken, pan-fried shrimp, crispy bacon (!), whatever you like.
Serves 2
Ingredients
- large head of romaine
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated (to taste and dependant on the size of your romaine)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, approx
- 1 tablespoon panko crumbs, approx. (omit if gluten-free)
- 2 eggs
- butter/oil if frying eggs instead of poaching
- 1 teaspoon roasted garlic
- 1/8 to 1/2 cup extra parmesan, for assembly
- salt and pepper to taste
Optional Add Ins
- 1/3 cup cooked chicken per serving (if you are using drier white meat, mix something saucy into the meat first to add moisture – a teaspoon or so of basil pesto would be fantastic)
- pan-fried shrimp
- crispy bacon
Instructions
- Set your oven on broil/grill.
- Clean the romaine without deconstructing it, and remove any gnarly bits.
- Cut the romaine in half length-wise and remove two big outer leaves (try to pick less crunchy ones as they will be easier to wrap) and set aside. You will use these later as the outer wrap for your Caesar.
- Place the other pieces of romaine on a baking sheet, brush with olive oil and then put them under your broil/grill and broil on high for 3 to 5 minutes until starting to brown.
- Remove it and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and panko crumbs and then broil/grill for another 3 to 5 minutes until the cheese is melted and the romaine is more browned. (See picture below.) Set it aside for a few minutes until its cool enough to handle.
- Chop the romaine into bite-sized pieced, mix in the roasted garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. (You will have more than you need. The grilled romaine is a delicious side in its own right.)
- Fry or poach the eggs, making sure they are still runny, as the yolk is the sauce element here.
- Assemble your Caesars, one at a time:
- Lay out an outer leave.
- Top it with the grilled romaine mixture, and the soft-poached/fried egg, and more parmesan cheese.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Fold it up into a wrap. I wrapped it with a green onion “tie” for the photo below.
- Eat!
PS – I carried the romaine home in my hand, held high like it was a dozen roses, worried that I’d mess up its appearance if I put it in my grocery bag. So much for that because I forgot to take pictures of it before it went into the oven!
