Cherry tomatoes, slicked with oil -- are they sheep dressed as tomatoes? Or are they just huddled together in fear of the oven?

Merrill splashes them with a dose of balsamic vinegar.

They roll around on the baking sheet as you transfer them to the oven -- don't worry, the closer they are to the edges, the better, because they'll brown nicely.

Lumps of grated parmesan, awaiting their turn in the oven. These will melt and crisp -- thus the parmesan "crisps."

The key ingredient in the dressing is anchovy paste. If you're opposed to the paste, just use a 1/2 teaspoon of finely chopped anchovy. Everyone's happy!

After adding all the dressing ingredients to a container, Amanda shook it to emulsify.

And Merrill tasted it for caesar-ness. (It passed with raves.)

Measuring cream to mix with dried oregano.

The cream and dried oregano is then blended with fresh goat cheese, and piped (we chose to smear it) on the serving plates as a bed for the salad.

Merrill washed the lettuce while Amanda searched for just the right serving plate.

The definition of slackened.

The roasted tomatoes and parmesan crisps.

Assembled, it's a beauty. Perfect dinner party material.

Amanda's trusty meat pounder proves its worth, yet again.

We had a very stubborn (and dry) lime.

Marie Viljoen calls for the yolk of a "lightly boiled egg." We coddled ours by dunking it in boiling water for a minute.

No more, no less.

When you coddle, the very outside of the white cooks and becomes opaque, and the yolk is warmed through.

Lime juice and the coddled egg yolk form the base of the dressing.

Anchovies and garlic are crucial additions.

Olive oil rounds out the dressing and makes it creamy.

A little parmesan, some salt and pepper, and the dressing it ready.

The crowning glory of this recipe: pancetta, two ways.

First, it's crisped in a pan.

And then the salty rendered fat is used to coat and toast rustic sourdough croutons.

A whisper of fresh garlic elevates the croutons from great to fantastic.

Amanda gets right in there and mixes the romaine and dressing with her hands.