All hail Caesar, the salad whose name I consistently misspell 3-4 times before getting it right!

For the first 10+ years of my life, salad was a side dish consisting of iceberg lettuce and ranch from a tube.  Then along came Caesar, the dressing whose tangy and complex flavor made salad taste like a meal rather than a chore.

It made me feel sophisticated and distinctly adult to have discovered the secret, delicious possibilities of fresh vegetables.  When I would go out to eat with my family and actually choose to order a salad, I would smile and think to myself “Sally, you are mature and wise beyond your years, and Leonardo DiCaprio is definitely going to marry you.”

But the feeling didn’t last…

As a young, blossoming vegetarian, I was heartbroken to find out that my beloved Caesar contained anchovies, which after some confusion, turned out to be fish(!). I stopped ordering it.

However, I did start trying other salads and it turned out that the possibilities were endless – you can even make it taste like a taco!  Nowadays, I would prefer a hearty salad to almost anything (maybe not pizza), and even though I love trying out new things and seeing what different combinations we can come up with, I still love a simple Caesar.

Anyways…  here’s a vegan-friendly homage to my gateway salad:

Creamy Vegan Caesar Dressing

• 1 1/2 cups raw cashews
• 8 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup capers
• 2 tablespoons of caper brine
• the juice of 2 lemons
• 3 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon toasted nori flakes
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon agave
• black pepper to taste

1. Soak raw cashews in boiling water for 30 minutes, then drain. (If you’re better at planning ahead than I am, you can soak them overnight to have the same effect if you prefer to keep it raw).
2. Add all ingredients into a blender and process until smooth.

We like to toss this dressing in with some fresh kale, cherry tomatoes, red onions, black olives, roasted chickpeas, and smoky almond parmesan, but you made it – do whatever the hell you want with it.

But if you’re interested…

Smoky Almond Parmesan

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1-2 teaspoons smoked salt
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in food processor and blend until everything is evenly distributed and maintains the texture of coarse sand (we really need to come with a more appealing visual comparison).  Put it on everything!