Caesar Salad {and two dressings}

A traditional Caesar salad is made up of romaine lettuce leaves, croutons, grated Parmesan, and a tangy dressing using raw egg. But there are many variations of this classic. It can easily be turned into a meal with additions like crumbled hard boiled egg and raw or roasted veggies.

For the greens, I use a large head of romaine lettuce and sometimes add in chopped Dino kale. Raw kale has a slightly bitter taste but slicing and chopping gets rid of it. Cut or rip the kale leaves off the stems and then cut the leaves into small ribbons and discard the stalks.

For grain-free croutons you can use any of my grain-free bread recipes sliced and cut up into cubes. I slice and cut cubes of cashew sandwich bread, lightly coat the cubes with olive oil and a pinch of salt and then bake (recipe below). Another options is to make Parmesan biscotti and break into smaller pieces or crush it a bit to get broken pieces and crumbs.

Topping ideas

Here are some ideas to make a hearty Caesar salad:

• hard boiled eggs
• blackened salmon
• blackened chicken
• tuna fish
• lentil pasta
• shaved or grated Parmesan cheese
• Parmesan croutons
• Parmesan Biscotti
• Parmesan crisps in Cooking for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet
• lemon slices

Two dressings

I've been using a creamy tahini dressing as a plant-based Caesar alternative. If you're a purest or just prefer the raw egg version you can use my traditional Caesar dressing using anchovies or anchovy paste (both dressing recipes below). And in a pinch you can sub the anchovies with fish sauce if you have that around. Enjoy!

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