Lacinato Kale Caesar Salad

Ingredients

Lacinato Kale:

Lacinato kale, sometimes call Tuscan kale or Dinosaur kale is a flat leafed variety of kale with bumpy savoyed texture. It has thick, pithy stems that are too tough to include in the salad, and will need to be removed.

You can substitute another variety of kale such as Red Russian or Curly kale, but weigh out 13 to 14 ounces to make sure the recipe ratios are similar.

Garlic

No Caesar salad would be complete without garlic, but a little goes a long way with raw garlic. (Note: we love using roasted garlic in Caesar too, and you can use a lot more because it has a mellowed flavor, but that’s another recipe all together!)

We recommend using freshly chopped garlic (not garlic powder or jarred chopped garlic) and following the below instructions for making the garlic paste. The paste will give the dressing overall garlic flavor with only one small clove. Plus there wont be any big surprising chunks of raw garlic mixed into the salad!

Anchovies

We know not everyone loves anchovies, but when mixed into Caesar dressing, they imbue it with its classic mildly funky, salty and umami taste and flavor.

A little bit goes a long way. (You only need two filets for this recipe.) If you don’t eat anchovies you can omit them, but you’ll likely want to add a touch of extra salt to taste.

Lemon

Classic Caesar salad gets its acidity from lemon juice. Sour counter-balances bitter. On its own this salad dressing would seem too tart, but when paired with the bitterness of the kale, it balances out beautifully.

Dijon

The dressing for this recipe today is adapted from our Egg Free Caesar Dressing. We added the Dijon for three main reasons;

1. It is a classic addition to Caesar dressing.
2. It helps to emulsify the dressing (even without egg.) It has naturally occurring lecithin in it which helps the lemon juice and olive oil stay bonded together (temporarily).
3. It is strongly flavored, and as we said, this dressing needs to be such that it can temper the bitterness of the kale.

Pecorino Romano or Parmesan Cheese

We love the slightly stronger and saltier taste of Pecorino Romano in our Kale Caesar. It is an aged, hard, salty Italian cheese made with sheep’s milk. It hails from the region in which Rome is included.

Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano), which is from cow’s milk and from Northern Italy, is always a great option if you can’t find the former. It is a little more mild, nutty and a little less salty by comparison and more commonly sold in the US.

Look for it in the deli section of your supermarket in plastic 1 and 2 cup containers. For the best flavor (and value per ounce) buy the Romano or Parmigiano in chunks and grate your own with the small holes on a box grater.

Olive Oil

If you have two kinds of olive oil in your cabinet, use your everyday cooking olive oil in this recipe.

The bold garlic, lemon, anchovies and cheese will overpower any of the subtle olfactory notes in a more nuanced high end olive oil. Save that fancy olive oil for drizzling over Minestrone just before serving or adding to shaved zucchini salad.

Croutons

Homemade croutons are super easy to make. Make sure to let them cool completely before adding them to the salad.

If you are in a hurry, buying store bought croutons is fine too. You will need two cups for this salad.