Caesar salad with pancetta

I had a huge amount of fresh, organic greens, so I thought I would make Ina's Caesar salad with pancetta. This is from Barefoot Contessa Parties.

Usually Caesar salad is made from Romaine lettuce, but I had delicious spring greens, so that's what I used. However, I did fry up some pancetta, which was really fantastic in this salad, and I grated some fresh cheese. (You're supposed to use parmigiano reggiano, but I had Manchego.)

The last ingredient for the salad is the dressing, of course, and I whipped up hers from the following:

• Fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• Olive oil
• Grated garlic clove
• Dijon mustard
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil mayo (in place of egg yolks)

It all came together to make a fantastic Caesar salad, Val-style:


Uggggghhhh, this was so good. The dressing was fantastic, and fresh-grated Manchego is always good, but honestly, I think the sauteed pancetta really made this. Screw bacon bits.