Kale Caesar Salad
This recipe is from Good and Cheap.
Good and Cheap is a gorgeous cookbook for people with limited income, particularly on a $4/day food stamps budget. The PDF is free (ahora en Español!) and has been downloaded more than 15,000,000 times. I have more cookbooks, too!
This kale is treated like romaine lettuce in a caesar salad. The bitterness of the greens is delicious alongside the rich, fatty dressing. You could also use Swiss chard. If you’re worried about the raw yolk in the dressing, feel free to omit it. I riff on this salad all the time, adding extra vegetables, playing with the dressing, using different cheeses, adding leftover protein or I leave it just as it is here, a delicious kale caesar salad.
Ingredients
Salad
- 2 cups bread cubes
- 2 Tbsp butter (more as needed)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 bunch dinosaur or lacinato kale
- Romano or Parmesan finely grated
Dressing
- 1 raw egg yolk from a high-quality fresh egg
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic finely grated (optional)
- 1 anchovy finely chopped (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Start by making croutons. Let the butter melt or the oil get hot. Add the bread and toss gently until coated. Let the bread sit for 2 minutes, then flip the pieces over. Keep tossing and turning until the bread is brown all over. Add oil or butter as needed and sprinkle with salt and pepper. It is basically impossible, unless you are very patient (which I am not) to get every side of the cubes browned, so just get them generally looking good and toasty and then take them off the heat.
- To make the dressing, drop the egg yolk into a large mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, mustard, garlic, and anchovy. Whisk briskly until the dressing is light and frothy. Slowly add the olive oil, whisking the whole time. Once everything is incorporated, add the salt and pepper, then adjust to your taste. I like it very lemony.
- Cut the kale leaves to remove the large stem from the center or grab the bottom of the stem and pull the leaves up briskly from the bottom to remove the stem. (Lacinato kale, sometimes called Tuscan kale, has the easiest stems to remove.) Slice the leaves in half lengthwise, then cut into thin ribbons. Chopping the kale into small pieces disguises its tough texture.
- Toss the kale in the bowl to coat it with dressing. Set aside for 10 minutes or leave in the fridge for a few hours. The kale will become tender as it marinates.
- Before serving, toss in the croutons and top with Romano cheese.
