Vegan Caesar Salad (+ Gluten Free) – Still as Indulgent as the Original

I feel like I haven’t been sharing nearly as many recipes as I would like to with you lately!

I’ve been working on this book like a crazy person lately, making about 3-4 recipes a day (creating, testing, testing & re-testing), as well as photographing, editing, keeping up with my design work and studying. Phew!

And every time I come up with a recipe idea, I really want to put it into the book so I can pack in as much value for you as I can. But with this recipe, I had to restrain myself from putting it in the book and share it with you. It is SO good!

Ash HATES salads – won’t touch them at all. But THIS salad, he loves. It doesn’t even feel like your eating a salad (…besides all of the lettuce!).

This is a good one to take to work as well. You can prep everything the nice before, making for an easier morning. Place all the ingredients in separate containers (ie. the dressing in a small container, the bread + avocado in a small container and the chopped lettuce leaves in a big container) and then assemble at lunch time. I’ve been sending Ash off to work with this, and feel much better knowing he is eating this and not hot chips!

For this salad, the crispy inner leaves of the romaine/cos lettuce are best, so save those soft outer leaves to use in lettuce wraps, walnut mince taco’s, in smoothies or in another salad.

UPDATE: You could also make this tofu popcorn chick’n recipe as a chicken substitute in this salad, it goes perfectly with it (thanks to the lovely commenter Dina for the suggestion!)

Vegan Caesar Salad (+ Gluten Free) – Still as Indulgent as the Original

 

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Don’t let this dainty lettuce salad fool you, it is really filling! And just as indulgent and satisfying as the original.

Ingredients:

• 2 heads of romaine (cos) lettuce
• 4 slices of gluten free bread (like this bread – I will also have a bread recipe in my upcoming book!)
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 batch of walnut parmesan cheese

Dressing:

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1½ tsp capers
• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp dulse flakes
• 1 tsp tamari or soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp water
• ¼ cup olive oil

Method:

1. Pull apart lettuce, setting aside the soft outer leaves. Use those for a lettuce wrap, or with walnut tacos. Wash the crispy inner leaves and place in a large colander over a bowl to drain. Set aside in the refrigerator, the leaves will stay crispy in the fridge, so you can prepare the lettuce leaves the night before if you wish.
2. Slice the bread into little squares and spread onto a baking tray. Place under the grill (broiler) of your oven and toast until nice and cripsy on all sides – keep a close eye on this as it will burn fast. Set aside to cool for about 15 minutes.
3. In a pestle and mortar, add the garlic, capers, mustard and salt and smash into a paste. Next add the dulse flakes, soy sauce, lemon juice and water and mix again. Add the olive oil in a stream as you continue to mix with the other hand.
4. Remove the lettuce leaves from the fridge. You can remove the stalks or leave them, depending on your preference. Grab some leaves and pile them onto each other, and chop into thick ribbons. Repeat for all the leaves. Place the leaves into a large bowl.
5. Pour the dressing onto the leaves and use tongs to toss leaves, making sure they are all coated.
6. Add the diced avocado and bread pieces to the bowl.
7. Sprinkle on parmesan cheese.

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Oh, and I gave the About page a little update – leave me a comment there and let me know what you think.

When you try the recipe remember to leave a comment below letting us know if you liked it!

Do you like regular salads? Or do they have to be ‘disguised’ for you?