Sometimes salads can be boring. Even your favorite salad can end up leaving you wanting more. I challenge you to “fancify” your next salad by placing it atop a tart!

My favorite salad is Caesar and the tart it’s been placed upon is roasted garlic. When I found this recipe 8 months ago I’d been searching for the perfect time to make it. For a side dish it seemed like quite a lot of work. So when we were invited to our neighbor’s home for dinner I was provided my opportunity! Without the added responsibility of creating an entree I could spend my time on this fancy salad.

Turns out you can make this side dish in stages! My excuse for not having made it sooner was simply made invalid. You can make the dressing in advance. You can make the tart shell in advance. You can even shave or shred your Parmesan ahead of time. I waited to dress the salad until we were ready to eat, gently placed it on top of the tart shell, and topped it with Parmesan. Note: there aren’t any croutons in this salad – the tart shell acts as your croutons, but if you simply can’t live without them, feel free to add them to your salad too.

If you want to make this more of a main dish feel free to top your tart with some grilled chicken or salmon.

Caesar Tart

Ingredients for the Roasted Garlic Tart:

• 1 head of garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 C grated Paremsan cheese
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 C flour

Ingredients for the Caesar Dressing:

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 anchovies
• 4 tsp red wine vinegar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Ingredients for the salad:

• 3 hearts of romaine, chopped
• 1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cut off the top of the head of garlic, so the bulbs are exposed but still in tact. Pour the olive oil overtop the garlic. Wrap in aluminum foil. Bake 40 minutes. Allow to cool.
3. When garlic is cool, squeeze the cloves into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter, Parmesan, and salt. Beat the mixture until combined. Add in the flour and mix until crumbly.
4. Press the dough into a greased tart pan (I don’t have one and used a foil lined pie dish). Bake 20-25 minutes, or until golden. Allow tart to cool.
5. Make the dressing: Place all of the ingredients in a small food processor or blender. Pulse until combined. Taste to check for additional salt or sugar (will depend on how juicy the lemon is).
6. In a large bowl toss the lettuce and Parmesan with as much dressing as desired. Top the tart with the dressed salad.

*This recipe is adapted from Mary at http://homemadecravings.com/caesar-salad-sweet-garlic-butter-crust/*