Seasonal Caesar Salad by TheDevineKitchen

TheDevineKitchen

Seasonal Kale Caesar Salad 

Yield: a generous ½-cup of dressing and salad for 4.

In keeping with seasonal produce, this recipe boasts green garlic and chives in lieu of gloves of garlic both of which are abundant at farmer’s and specialty markets or from your own herb garden.  It uses capers instead of anchovies (so it’s vegetarian), and finely chopped kale with traditional romaine lettuce.  Red radishes and chive blossoms add more seasonality and striking color. I hope you enjoy it.

Dressing:

1 stalk green garlic, root end and dark green tips removed, chopped*

2 tablespoons chives, chopped 

1 teaspoon capers

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 

Juice of ½ large lemon 

½ cup extra virgin olive oil 

Generous pinch sea salt

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Note: *green garlic is the same plant as regular garlic, but not fully mature.  It has a subtler flavor.  Use within two weeks, as it doesn’t have the long-term storage life that mature garlic bulbs have.  Prepare as you would leeks, removing the stem end and the dark green tips that are too fibrous for eating (but freeze well for making stocks).

Salad:

1 head romaine lettuce, sliced horizontally into 1-inch strips 

1 bunch kale (preferably Lacinato or dinosaur kale that has a flatter back and longer spears), chiffonade cut (very finely sliced)

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 

4 radishes, thinly sliced

Lemon wedges

Several chive flowers, rinsed, for garnish

Method:

1. In a blender combine chopped green garlic, chopped chives, capers, Dijon, lemon juice and salt.  Stream in olive oil.  Process just until smooth.  Add fresh ground black pepper to taste.  

2. Place sliced kale in a large salad bowl.  Sprinkle with a couple of pinches of fine sea salt and massage the kale for one minute.  This breaks down some of the tough fibers making the salad tender, easier to chew and digest.  

3. Toss the salad with dressing and Parmesan reserving a little cheese and a few radish slices for garnish.

4. Pluck the florets from the chive flower heads and sprinkle over your plated salad.  Serve with a lemon wedge on the side.

Variations:

• Toss in a cup of freshly baked homemade croutons.

• Omit the cheese and add 1/2 a cup raw or roasted cashews (salted or unsalted), finely chopped or pulverized in a food processor. 

• Use only romaine lettuce if kale isn’t available.