If you know me or my Instagram feed, it’s no secret that I love a good salad. I eat them a lot, which is easy when you live in Southern California – we have access to fresh, locally grown produce 365 days a year! And I don’t discriminate when it comes to my greens, add-ins, or style of dressing. From chicories to iceberg, crisp radishes to caramelized roasted veg, croutons to crunchy toasted nuts, sharp vinaigrettes to mellow creamy tahini…I’ll take ‘em all. Yet in the midst of all this glorious seasonal bounty and opportunity for creativity, I occasionally crave the simple, savory flavors and fabulous textures of a classic Caesar salad. Fresh romaine, salty cheese, savory dressing, crunchy croutons – yes please! Still, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t try to change things up and add a seasonal twist so I’ve been playing around with variations, and I do believe I’ve landed on a winner here with caramelized bits of roasted Brussels sprouts, crunchy garlic bread crumbs instead of croutons, and a flavor-packed vegan dressing that will satisfy any Caesar craving, even without the anchovies.
My favorite thing about roasted Brussels sprouts is the errant outer leaves that fall off and turn super crisp and brown in the oven. I inevitably eat all those little escapees right from the pan as the sprouts come out of the oven, so I figured I might as well just make an entire pan full of them. Now I’m not expecting anyone to sit there and painstakingly remove each individual leaf from all those Brussels sprouts (sadistic much?), so instead the whole sprouts get sliced super thin, and then roasted in a hot oven until they caramelize and char. Combined with fresh, crisp romaine they add another layer of flavor and texture to the salad, along with a nutritional boost from an extra serving of green veggies.
Crispy and delicious. Gotta get them reeeally browned.
Okay let’s talk croutons for a minute. I don’t know about you, but during my formative years croutons from a box were pretty standard. What I remember most about them was that they were perfectly uniform little cubes, they tasted like salty cardboard, and they tore up my tongue and the roof of my mouth unless they soaked in dressing for a while. And forget trying to get one on your fork – there was no way to stab one of those hard little nuggets without shooting it across the room à la Julia Roberts and that escargot in “Pretty Woman.” So yeah, I wasn’t a huge fan. The first time I had croutons that didn’t come from a package, it was a revelation. They tasted like actual toasted bread and not some weirdly salty artificial flavoring! I also liked the fact that the bread was torn into pieces of irregular size and shape, but honestly croutons in general are unwieldy to me and I’d rather not have to chip away at them before I can start munching. So unless I’m making panzanella and allowing them to soak for a while to soften, I still don’t go for croutons in my salad.
Instead, I like to toss in super crunchy toasted bread crumbs, which distributes that texture and toasty flavor more completely throughout the dish and makes it much easier to eat. I keep a stash of my homemade gluten-free sourdough in the freezer and I use that to make bread crumbs, but feel free to use any halfway decent store-bought bread for yours. It’s all good. (Please note how coarse I left the crumbs – you want chunks, not sand.)
We all know that the dressing is the real reason anyone eats Caesar salad, because it’s a tangy, salty, creamy, lemony flavor bomb. Classic Caesar dressing is made with anchovies and raw egg yolks, and those two ingredients squick a lot of people out, even non-vegans. I’m cool with both, but I want this recipe to be accessible to as many people as possible, and whenever I eat Caesar salad I think about my poor mom never having been able to try it because she was deathly allergic to all seafood including anchovies. So in honor of my mom’s memory, and for all those people who have been missing out on the Caesar experience for whatever reason, I spent a long time perfecting the dressing for this recipe. The creamy emulsified base was a no-brainer, because soaked cashews or macadamia nuts blended with a touch of Dijon and lemon makes for a terrific vegan alternative to mayonnaise (which is essentially what the whisked egg + oil + lemon + mustard combo turns into in the traditional dressing formula).
The anchovy, however, is a different story. There are a lot of individual vegan ingredients that people try to substitute for anchovies, but I’ve learned that you need to combine several of them to mimic the salty, umami, briny depth of flavor of those tiny fish. After MANY attempts, I finally struck gold with the right balance of brined capers, umeboshi (fermented plum) paste, and dried seaweed flakes. I’d swear there was anchovy in this dressing if I didn’t know better! I try not to use too many unusual ingredients in my recipes, but trust me when I tell you that it’s worth purchasing the umeboshi and seaweed if you don’t already have them in your pantry. They keep for a really long time, and you’ll want to make this recipe again and again.
Umeboshi paste – this stuff is an umami party in your mouth.
I used dulse flakes this time, but you can use nori instead. They both add that briny sea flavor.
Yeah, I know you know what capers look like but I though this was a cool shot.
Okay, so the final element of your traditional Caesar salad is freshly grated or shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano. Obviously that’s a no-go for this veganized version, so you have a couple of options for substitution here. If you’re lucky enough to have access to a high quality vegan parmesan, use that. I’m pretty impressed with Violife “Just Like Parmesan” (and no, they didn’t pay me to say that), so now that my local store stocks it I keep a wedge on hand. Otherwise add a generous sprinkle of nutritional yeast flakes and call it a day.
Every vegan knows that nooch is the OG vegan parm.
One last note: if you want to bulk up your salad with some protein to make it more of a complete meal, toss in some cooked chickpeas or white beans. If you’re not vegan or vegetarian, grilled chicken would be great too.
That’s it for this one. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or on one of my social media accounts. Buon Appetito!
- Garlic Bread Crumbs:
- 1 thick slice (about 3 oz) hearty gluten-free bread¹
- 1 small clove garlic
- Generous pinch kosher salt
- 10ml (2) tsp extra virgin olive oil
- Dressing:
- 75g (½ cup) raw cashews or macadamia nuts, soaked² and drained
- 90ml (¼ cup + 2 Tbsp) filtered water
- 30ml (2 Tbsp) EVOO
- 10g (1 Tbsp) brined capers. drained
- Zest and juice of ½ lemon
- 10g (2 tsp) Dijon mustard
- 1 medium clove garlic
- 18g (1 Tbsp) umeboshi paste³
- 2g (1 tsp) nori or dulse flakes⁴
- Generous pinch kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Salad:
- ¾ lb. Brussels sprouts
- 20ml (4 tsp) extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅛ tsp kosher salt
- 1 head (10-12 oz) romaine lettuce, chopped into bite-size pieces
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 28g (¼ cup) coarsely grated vegan parmesan-style cheese⁵
- Set oven to 425˚F with racks in upper and lower positions.
- Make the bread crumbs: Rub a garlic clove all over both sides of the bread. Using a box grater or coarse microplane set over a bowl, grate the bread into large crumbs. Toss with salt and olive oil, and spread on a sheet pan. Transfer pan to oven and toast crumbs for 8-10 minutes, stirring several times to ensure even toasting. When crumbs are deeply golden and crunchy, remove pan from oven and let cool on a rack for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a bowl.
- While crumbs are toasting, make the dressing: add all ingredients except pepper to a blender, and process until smooth. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste, and season with additional salt if desired. Set dressing aside.
- Prep and cook the Brussels sprouts: trim off the ends and any dull outer leaves from the sprouts, and slice them as thinly as possible using a mandolin or knife (you can also shred them in a food processor). Toss Brussels sprouts with olive oil and salt, and divide between two sheet pans, spreading out into even layers. Set pans in oven and roast for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until deeply browned and crisp. I recommend swapping the pan positions once during roasting so the sprouts cook at the same rate.
- Assemble the salad: add romaine to a large bowl. Drizzle with about ⅓ cup dressing and toss well. Add Brussels sprouts, cheese or nutritional yeast, and bread crumbs. Season with several grinds black pepper and toss again. Taste and adjust seasonings or add more dressing if needed. Serve immediately, and store extra dressing in the refrigerator for up to a week.
² If you plan ahead you can soak the nuts overnight in cool filtered water. As a last-minute alternative you can do a quick hot soak. Add nuts to a saucepan and cover with filtered water by one inch. Bring just to a boil, turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let soak for 15 minutes. Drain well.
³ Umeboshi paste is a condiment made from pureed, fermented ume plums. It adds tons of umami with a super savory, tart and acidic flavor. Look for it at a health food store, Asian market, or a good supermarket that has a decent Asian ingredients selection; I recommend Eden Foods brand.
⁴ Nori and dulse are sea vegetables that you can purchase in dried form. Nori is commonly found in sheets for rolling sushi, but you can also find it in flake form. Dulse usually comes as flakes, either in shaker jars or pouches. Seaweed is typically sold in the same section as umeboshi paste, so you can grab both at the same time.
⁵ If you don’t have access to a good vegan parm, substitute 20 grams/¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes.
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