Brennan's Creole Martini Caesar Salad

Brennan's restaurant won first place in the Most Creative category in the 1999 Caesar salad competition. This recipe, created by executive chef Carl Walker, was published Nov. 3, 1999.

1 1/2 cups Brennan's Creole Caesar Dressing
2 ounces pepper vodka (recipe developed with Absolut)
2 heads chilled romaine lettuce, torn into small pieces
6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
6 prepared garlic cheese straws
6 to 12 Fried Crabmeat Olives

Add vodka to Dressing; shake to combine. Toss Dressing with lettuce. Arrange in large martini glasses. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Add a cheese straw to each glass as a stirrer. Garnish each glass with a Fried Crabmeat Olive skewered on a toothpick. Use 1 or 2 olives per salad. Makes 6 servings.

Creole Caesar Dressing:
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese
2 ounces anchovies
Juice of 1 lemon
1 egg
1 tablespoon Creole mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 3/4 cups cottonseed or other vegetable oil
1 tablespoon hot red pepper sauce
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Combine garlic, Parmesan, anchovies, lemon juice, egg and mustard in a food processor or blender; mix well. Add Worcestershire and vinegar. Slowly add oil through processor cap until dressing thickens to desired consistency. Season with pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Makes 2 cups.

Fried Crabmeat Olives:
1 1/2 teaspoons oil
1/3 cup diced onion
2 tablespoons diced green bell pepper
1/4 cup diced celery
1/3 tablespoon minced garlic
1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
2 tablespoons seafood seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons hot red pepper sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
1 tablespoon thinly sliced green onion
6 pitted black olives
12 capers
All-purpose flour

Heat oil in medium skillet almost to the smoking point. Add onion; saute a minute, then add bell pepper, celery and garlic. Saute until soft. Add crab to vegetables. Then add seafood seasoning, pepper sauce, Worcestershire and Parmesan. Heat through. Mix in egg as you take pan off heat, then return to heat for a few seconds while stirring. Stir in bread crumbs and green onion; refrigerate, covered.

Stuff olives with capers, 2 capers per olive. Roll olives in crab-cake stuffing mixture to form 1 1/2-inch balls. Bread crab cakes by dusting them with flour. Dip in egg and roll in bread crumbs. Deep-fry until golden brown and hot in the center.

To serve, arrange cheese straws and fried olives in martini glass.

Makes 6 servings.