Does a Ceasar salad has to contain chicken? Not at all. The original salad was invented in Tijuana, Mexico in 1924, and you know what? It contained neither chicken nor anchovies. Ceasar Cardini is said to be the one who invented the dressing. He was an Italien immigrant who operated restaurants both in Mexico and the USA. Many in Ceasar’s staff claimed, however, that they were the real inventor.

Of course, there’s a legend attached to this dish. The restaurant was running low on supplies during a busy weekend. A minor catastrophe with other words was lurking around the corner. Ceasar didn’t want to disappoint his customers and concocted the salad with what was on hand. The rest is food history.

In this recipe, I have chosen to serve the salad together with marinated fried shrimps. I will not claim that the dressing is made according to the original recipe. But I think I can call it a Ceasar salad. It’s close enough.

I’m living in the inland, so it’s sometimes hard to get fresh shellfish. So I had to content myself with frozen shrimps. But that’s OK as long as they are raw. Just thaw the shrimps slowly and carefully in the refrigerator, and you will hardly notice any difference.

There is an ongoing battle in our home. My kids claim that potatoes are disgusting. If they are not deep-fried, that will say. Then they are suddenly delicious.
But there must be a better way to get the kids to eat potatoes without having to fry them. And I think I have found a solution.

Gnocchi.

Both of them love pasta and my plan was to convince them that Gnocchi was a sort of pasta.
My son was not that sure.
“It contains potatoes” he complained.
“And flour and egg. Just like pasta” I answered.
He gave me a suspicious look.
“Are you sure it’s not disgusting?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”

That was a lie. I had never tasted potato Gnocchi in my whole life. I love Italien food, but I had never tasted potato Gnocchi. Polenta gnocchi yes, but never potato gnocchi.
“You better taste good,” I said to quietly to the dough ropes I was rolling.