Caesar salad with chicken popcorn

Ingredients (serves 4):
2 heads Romaine lettuce, washed and cut just above the root
5 rashers bacon
2 eggs
20g Parmesan cheese, shaved
16 pieces FairPrice Chicken Popcorn
2 cups vegetable oil

Dressing:
2 small cloves garlic
25g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
3 very fresh eggs
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
5 anchovy fillets
500ml olive oil
Sea salt to taste

Method:
1. Lay the bacon on a piece of greaseproof paper and place on a baking tray. Place in a 180°C oven for 20 minutes, until brown and crisp.
2. Place the 2 eggs in a saucepan of tap water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and then turn it off. Let the eggs steep in the hot water for 3 minutes, remove and rinse in cold water. Set aside.
3. In a deep-fryer or a deep pan, heat the oil till it starts to smoke gently.
4. Fry the Chicken Popcorn in the oil until golden and crisp for about 6 minutes, then remove. Drain on kitchen towels.
5. To make the dressing, blend the garlic, cheese, 3 eggs, mustard, lemon juice and anchovies in a blender until smooth. Add the oil very slowly and blend as you add. Taste and season with salt — you won’t need much as the cheese and anchovies are salty.
6. Remove the bacon from the oven, pat on kitchen towels to absorb the oil and crush into bits.
7. Tear the Romaine lettuce into bitesized pieces and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle with bacon bits.
8. Toss the lettuce and bacon bits with some of the dressing (you will have some dressing left over, which you can keep for a day in the fridge).
9. Sprinkle the Parmesan shavings over the salad.
10. Peel the shells from the eggs and break the eggs into halves over the salad.
11. Serve with the Chicken Popcorn.

Tips:
Recipe uses FairPrice Chicken Popcorn ($5.60 for 500g) available at all FairPrice supermarkets.

Besides using Chicken Popcorn, you could also fry up a batch of FairPrice Chicken Fillets or Chicken Fingers to munch on alongside.

Recipe source: Today newspaper (11 Sep 2008)