Salmon Caesar with Polenta Chips

One of my first meals back at Uni and here in the new flat was a salmon caesar salad with polenta chips on top. Super easy to do and super tasty! Everything is homemade on the salad and it can all be modified to taste without really changing anything. For the salad I used a head of romaine lettuce just washed and spun. I made the dressing ahead of time and it can be kept in the fridge just fine without spoiling.

Caesar dressing
2 spoonsful of mayonnaise
3 spoonsful of olive oil
1 small spoonful of mustard
1 clove of garlic diced
shake of lemon juice to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Everything here is really to taste as if you like it with a little more kick add more mustard or really lemony, well just add more lemon juice. It may need some more olive oil if you like a thinner dressing, it really is quite dependent on personal taste.

Polenta chips
50g polenta meal
200ml boiling water
shake of salt
chopped fresh rosemary to taste

For the polenta all I did was mix the polenta, water and salt and then stir until all mixed and then I put it in the microwave for a minute. You can do it over the stove but that requires dirtying a pot and I'm a student so washing a pot wasn't on my agenda. I then took it out, stirred it and put it in for another minute to ensure that it would be really tough and would stick together when being fried. When it was tough enough and all stuck together I added in the rosemary and flattened the mixture onto a plate so it was about 1cm thick. I then put it in the fridge to kind of harden up for about 20 minutes. When I took it out I cut it into 1cmx2cm squares. Next was the kind of scary part. I popped some olive oil into our wok, but just enough to coat the bottom of the pan, and dropped in my little chips, letting them fry and flipping them every couple minutes until they were crispy and a deep yellow. Keep in mind the hot oil will be jumping from the pan and to be careful as it really burns when it hits you. I learned.

The salmon I cooked in the remainder of the oil from the chips and just sprinkled some pepper and lemon juice on top before dropping it into the pan and cooking until it was a nice pale pink all the way through.

Assembly was the simple bit. I tossed the lettuce in the bowl, put my chips and chunks of salmon on top and drizzled the dressing over. With a big glass of water I positively inhaled it and am eager to make it again! Especially the polenta chips!