Holiday Secrets to Beautiful Skin Series

Tuesday Salad Course

In addition to eating liberal amounts of wild Alaskan salmon, introduce anchovies and sardines into your diet. These tiny little fish deliver enormous health and beauty benefits. They are rich sources of the anti-inflammatory omega-3 essential fatty acids, and because they are low on the food chain, they are less contaminated than larger fish.

Anchovies are one of the only natural (and one of the richest) sources of DMAE, a nutrient that helps keep skin healthy, toned, firm and radiant.

A great way to introduce anchovies into your diet is to add anchovy paste (or a few mashed anchovies) to your salad dressing. This is particularly delicious and an important staple of the original Caesar Salad.

Dressing:

3 large cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon anchovies, rinsed, patted dry and finely minced

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (use organic lemons)

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3 hearts romaine lettuce, leaves separated, rinsed and patted dry

1 large egg, boiled for 1 minute

2 large romaine hearts, leaves separated, washed, dried and torn into small pieces

1 cup coarsely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preparation

1. Drop garlic into a food processor and chop fine. Add egg, lemon juice, anchovy paste and ½ teaspoon pepper and pulse until combined. With motor running, add remaining 6 tablespoons of oil in a slow stream, blending until emulsified.
2. Toss romaine with dressing, croutons and half of cheese in a large bowl. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.