Surprise! Your New Favorite Caesar Salad is Vegan
Every other Thursday, Gena Hamshaw of the blog Choosing Raw shares satisfying, flavorful recipes that also happen to be vegan.
Today: If you think it’s impossible to recreate the saltiness and creaminess of a Caesar salad without anchovies or Parmesan, this recipe will prove you wrong.
An anchovy-free, polenta-filled Caesar. (Photo: James Ransom)
Related: 8 vegan dinners that moonlight as lunches
Nearly every food lover I know has a favorite Caesar salad recipe. It may be served at a neighborhood Italian restaurant, or it may be a recipe that was passed down by a family member. It may be found online, in the pages of a cookbook, or in the words of a roommate or a friend. It might be deconstructed, or rustic, or refined. But there’s always a favorite.
Related: 15 vegan recipes for a very green 2015
This is my favorite Caesar salad. It’s a favorite because I happened to love Caesar salad before I went vegan and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to recreate the recipe without eggs, or mayonnaise, or anchovies, or Parmesan. As it turns out, I could.
Related: A vegan sautéed salad lunch
This recipe proves that there really is nothing that the magical combination of cashews and nutritional yeast can’t do. Here, they provide a cheesy, savory flavor and a creamy texture. To replace the characteristic hints of anchovy, I use either dulse or kelp flakes (both of which are easy to find at health food stores). Like most seaweeds, they’re salty and full of umami; still, they’re mild enough to be palatable even to seaweed haters. Just to keep things interesting, I use a mixture of dinosaur kale and romaine—trendy meets old-school.
Related: How to make a better leafy salad without a recipe
(Photo: James Ransom)
Related: You don’t have to be a miracle-worker to make vegan crêpes
And of course, there must be croutons. I like to use polenta croutons, which are crispy on the outside and tender in the center—a nice twist on croutons as usual. I like how dense they are and the way they turn a side dish into a hearty, substantial salad that’s perfect for an easy lunch. They’re a little more time-consuming to make than regular croutons, but their versatility makes up for it: Pile them onto a bowl of soup, toss them with some roasted cherry tomatoes for a lovely summer appetizer, or better yet, use them in a non-traditional panzanella. Think of them as “garnish with substance,” and then see if you don’t get hooked.
Related: Tempeh, cabbage, and kelp noodle salad
Vegan Caesar Salad with Polenta Croutons
Serves 4
For the salad:
½ cup raw cashews, soaked overnight and drained
3 to 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste
2/3 cup water
1 ½ teaspoons kelp or dulse granules (find these at a health food store)
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon mellow white miso
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons nutritional yeast, divided
1 bunch dinosaur kale, stems removed, washed, dried, and cut into ribbons
1 head romaine lettuce, washed, dried, and cut into ribbons (alternately, you can use two heads of romaine and omit the kale)
To prepare the dressing, transfer the cashews, lemon juice, water, kelp or dulse granules, garlic, miso, salt, mustard, and two tablespoons of nutritional yeast to a blender and blend until smooth. Start with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and adjust as needed—my preference is for a tart dressing, but use your judgment.
To make the salad, toss the greens with the dressing, using as much of it as you need to coat the greens well. Fold in the remaining nutritional yeast. Divide the salad onto four serving plates. Top each plate with a handful of polenta croutons and serve.
For the polenta croutons:
3 ½ cups water
1 cup fine yellow cornmeal (polenta)
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Coarse salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
In a medium pot, bring the water to a boil. Pour in the polenta in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Add the salt. Continue to stir as the polenta cooks (watch your hand, as it bubbles aggressively). The polenta is ready when the cornmeal is tender and the mixture is thick, about 15 minutes.
Transfer the polenta to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use an offset spatula to smooth it out. When the polenta has cooled somewhat, transfer it to the refrigerator and allow it to firm for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Remove the polenta from the fridge and cut it into ¾-inch squares. Transfer them to a baking sheet lined with a fresh sheet of parchment. Brush the squares with olive oil and sprinkle them with coarse salt and pepper. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until crispy and golden brown, stirring once through. Once the polenta croutons are cool enough to touch, use them to garnish the salad, or pile them onto a bowl of soup, toss them with some roasted cherry tomatoes for a lovely summer appetizer, or better yet, use them in a non-traditional panzanella.
By Gena Hamshaw
