Kale Caesar Salad with Parmesan Crisps

bowls / lunch / gluten free / grain free / meat free

Come fall time, I feel like all I’m eating is pumpkin bread, pasta, heavy soups, you name it! I’ve been craving something green (if you look at my recent recipes, literally everything is some form of red, orange, white or yellow). This kale caesar salad with parmesan crisps was exactly what I needed.

The ingredients you need for this dish is kale, pickled red onions, parmesan, chick peas, lemon, seasonings, and a caesar dressing. And don’t worry, I got you covered with this homemade, out of this world caesar dressing. I has no anchovies (because so people really go out and buy anchovies?) and uses things you already have in your fridge. And my god, it’s so delicious!

For my protein in this salad, I loved using chick peas. I baked them to get super crispy in the oven and the seasonings I used made them taste meaty in a sense? That might sound weird, but using smoked paprika bring out a similar flavor to if you grilled a piece of meat and added it into the salad. It’s so good!

I kept this recipe gluten free by using these parmesan crisps in lieu of using croutons. I feel like you need that extra bit of a satisfying bite you get when crunching into a crouton in your caesar salad. These parmesan crisps, combined with the crunch of the chickpeas totally make me not miss the croutons. The crisps are the easiest thing to make, and they only require 1 ingredient (can you guess what it is?). Parmesan. It’s parmesan.

KALE CAESAR SALAD WITH PARMESAN CRISPS

ingredients:

• 4-5 large leaves of kale

• 1 can chick peas

• 1/4 cup pickled red onions

• 1/2 cup grated parmesan + 2 tbsp shaved or grated parmesan

• squeeze of lemon

• salt + pepper

• 1 tbsp garlic powder

• 12 tbsp paprika

• 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika

• 1/2 tbsp onion powder

• 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp olive oil

homemade caesar dressing:

• 1 cup avocado oil mayo

• 1 tbsp dijon mustard

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 1/2 tbsp worcestershire

• 2 tbsp grated parmesan

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 lemon, juiced

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp cracked black pepper

• water to thin it out to desired consistency

directions:

1. preheat oven to 425 F.

2. drain the chick peas and toss them in the 1 tbsp olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, paprika, salt and pepper. roast them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for 20 minutes, stirring them halfway through.

3. de-stem your kale and chop up into salad size pieces. add the kale to a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and salt. “massage” the kale with your hands. this means to use your hands to squeeze and mix the kale. this breaks the leaf down so it’s easier to eat, and tastes so much better when you do this.

4. once the chick peas are done, lower the oven to 400 F. on a piece of parchment paper, add a spoon of parmesan and flatten to a circle. make as many as you want with leaving an inch or so in between. these will expand as you bake them and they melt. bake for 3-5 minutes and then let them cool .transfer to a paper towel before adding them to the salad to soak up some of the grease.

5. now make your dressing. add all the ingredients for the homemade caesar dressing to a jar or bowl, and shake or whisk together.

6. assemble your salad with add your massaged kale to a bowl, then the pickled red onions, crispy chick peas, shaved or grated parmesan, squeeze of lemon, and the the dressing. toss the salad, break the parmesan crisps into pieces, and add those on top the salad.

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