Our Veggie Kitchen

Traditional Caesar salad dressing packs a bold, savory punch with eggs, anchovies, and Parmesan cheese. But these are all things that any vegan can do without. So I swapped out the nasties, added miso, kombu and kalamata olives and kept the fresh lemon juice and dijon mustard and this dressing fast became a household favorite.

I had the flavor down long ago, but the presentation took a little work. If you blend the olives, you end up with a purple mess, so mince them as fine as you can manage. And 2 tbs of kombu is just not enough mass for my spice grinder to handle, so I blended it with some cashews--otherwise you get chewy chunks of kombu on your salad. But with these tips, it will turn out wonderful.



Caesar Salad Dressing
3/4 cup cashews, divided
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbs white wine vinegar
1 cup water
1 tbs miso
1 tbs dijon mustard
1 cloves garlic
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs kombu, chopped (about 1 folded strip)
1/4 cup kalamata olives, very finely minced

Combine 1/2 cup cashew nuts with the lemon juice and vinegar in a blender and blend to a cream. Add the water, miso, dijon mustard, garlic and olive oil and blend thoroughly. Add the kombu to a spice grinder (or coffee grinder) and grind as best you can. Then add the remining 1/4 cup of cashews and grind to a powder. Add to the blender and blend to combine. Then add the minced olives and pulse, just to combine. Pour into containers and refrigerate. It will thicken as it cools. Makes about 2 cups.

16 Servings: 62 cal (5g fat, 3g carbs, 1g protein)