Spring Chicken Caesar with Chicken Fat Croutons

This is a Caesar salad rebuilt around a whole roast chicken and spring vegetables. The dressing is made from scratch. The croutons are fried in the rendered chicken fat. The greens are blanched asparagus, peas, and gem lettuce tossed with fresh basil. It is a full meal that still feels like a salad.

Spatchcock and Roast the Chicken

The key to the roast is spatchcocking, which means cutting out the backbone and pressing the bird flat. This exposes more surface area to heat and cooks the chicken faster and more evenly. Rub it with olive oil, season generously with salt on both sides, and roast at 230 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes.

Julius Roberts looking down at a whole chicken on a roasting tray, explaining the spatchcocking technique

Make the Caesar Dressing

The dressing starts with an egg yolk, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, two cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt, and five salted anchovies. Add olive oil very slowly to emulsify. Once it thickens, loosen it with sunflower oil for a lighter flavor. Finish with plenty of grated Parmesan.

Egg yolk and anchovy in a food processor, ready for blending into Caesar dressing

Chicken Fat Croutons

While the chicken rests, use the fat rendered in the roasting pan. Take good sourdough bread from a local baker, trim the crust, cut it into chunky cubes, and roll the bread through the hot chicken fat. Season and blast in the oven until golden.

The Spring Greens

Snap the woody ends off fresh asparagus and cut the stalks into chunky rounds. Blanch in salted water for just a couple of minutes, then add peas at the end. The vegetables should stay bright and snappy.

Julius holding fresh asparagus, explaining the spring vegetable components

Assembly

Carve the chicken (save the bones for stock). Layer the gem lettuce, blanched asparagus and peas, a big handful of fresh basil, and the carved roast chicken. Add a generous amount of dressing and mix everything together by hand.

The finished Caesar salad being tossed by hand in a large bowl with chicken, greens, and dressing

Key Takeaways

Spatchcocking the chicken gives faster, more even roasting at high heat
Chicken fat croutons use the rendered drippings, so nothing goes to waste
Blanch asparagus and peas briefly to keep them bright and crisp
The dressing is a classic emulsion: egg yolk, anchovy, mustard, garlic, lemon, oil, Parmesan

Resources

@julius.roberts on TikTok -- Farm-to-table cooking and seasonal recipes