Caesar Salad Soup

My Valentine took me to Deer Valley's seafood buffet a couple weeks ago. Although my goal for the night was to taste a little of every kind of seafood there (which I did), I couldn't pass up the opportunity to sacrifice a little stomach room to try the soup they had there. It was called caesar salad soup. How interesting! It was a very green pureed soup they actually used lettuce in and everything. It really did taste like caesar salad too! Even though it was a hot soup, it still worked. I was inspired...
I spent a week concocting 3 different versions to try out all my ideas. I ended up liking the non-puréed version a little big more for the added texture. A small warning: the are some potent aromatics in this recipe so be prepared for the smells to linger a bit to the next day. Here is the favorite recipe I came up with.

Caesar salad soup
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp oil
3 anchovie fillets
2 cloves garlic
1/2 small onion, chopped
Day old bread cubes
1 Tbsp garlic salt
1/2 c Grated dry Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix garlic salt and half the Parmesan in a bowl. Spread bread cubes on a baking sheet and spray with nonfat cooking spray and sprinkle with garlic and Parmesan mixture. Bake for 20 min. Or until light brown.

In your soup pot, warm the oil and place anchovie filets on top. Once they start to disintegrate (watch out, the sizzle and pop little flecks of oil so don't stand really close) add in garlic and onion and sauté until just soft. Pour in broth and bring to a boil. Drop in the lettuce and cook for 3-5 minutes until nice and wilted but bright green. Sprinkle lemon juice over top and add salt and pepper.
Serve in bowls by using tongs to grab lettuce and stack into bowls. Pour broth over top and top with croutons and more Parmesan cheese.

Or you can puree it in a blender and serve with the same garnishes. This is how Deer Valley did it.