A flavorful Caesar shorcut

A week ago I had the good fortune to attend a second dinner by creative and acclaimed Sicilian chef Carmelo Chiaramonte. This was at Valentino where my luck continued, as I was seated between proprietor Piero Selvaggio, who served as the host for the event, and Bryan Caswell of Reef fame. And, across from me was Cleverley Stone (on whose radio show I'm slated to be on this upcoming Saturday) and Robert Del Grande. Monica Pope was a few seats away. An interesting group, especially if you like food and drink, which featured three current James Beard Award nominees and a past winner, all helping to make the evening much more enjoyable.

One of the tidbits that Selvaggio shared concerned the relatively obscure gourmet product that was featured in a small taste between courses. This was the colatura di alici I mentioned in a previous article, essentially fermented anchovy juice. Though descriptive (and as such, possibly off-puting), it really does not indicate the utility of this product that is used to flavor fairly straightforward pastas and pizzas. Selvaggio said replacing the anchovies or anchovy paste with some colatura makes for an even more enticing and nuanced Caesar Salad. It is even easier, too. Colatura di alici is avialable on-line at gustiamo.com.  It's not inexpensive, but a little seems to go a long way.

For an insight into the original Caesar Salad, click here for an informative interview with Carla Cardini, granddaughter of the inventor, that appeared in My Table.