November 30

A very long time ago, I worked in a kitchen for a short period of time. The restaurant was a steak house and I worked on the salad station. It was a time in my life when I was debating quitting university to go to culinary school so I thought it was a good idea to get some experience in the kitchen before I made such a life-changing decision. For a lot of reasons, I didn’t end up going to culinary school but the one dish I think of when I think of that time was their caesar salad. I remember, on my last day, the chef I was working with gave me a little container of the caesar dressing because he knew I loved it so much. Since then, I have never really made my own caesar salad dressing. This is because every time I looked up a recipe they called for anchovies, which I have never been able to find at the store. A couple of weeks ago, I got a massive craving for caesar salad and decided that instead of tracking down anchovies, I would just try to make a dressing without it. On top of that, I knew I wanted it to be a kale caesar salad. I finally got my hands on some black/dinosaur kale again (which is my favourite in salads) and since caesar salad dressing is quite heavy, I didn’t want any delicate greens that would get weighed down.



Needless to say the dressing is absolutely perfect. It is creamy and tangy and salty. It is the ultimate comfort food salad dressing. And using kale is the best decision ever. I love how the kale actually gets better the more you let it sit in the dressing. In fact, you have to let the dressing sit on the kale for at least 20 minutes, but it is so worth it. The kale gets totally tender and is the perfect vehicle for the dressing. Of course, adding a few homemade garlicky chunks of bread makes the whole thing even better. The first time I made this, I had to restrain myself from eating the whole thing. I managed to leave my boyfriend a few bites so he could try it. A few days later I made a whole new batch (without the croutons this time) and easily downed the whole bundle of kale by myself. I find this completely addictive and delicious. It’s the perfect salad for company or a potluck because I am certain it is a crowd pleaser (even though I haven’t managed to share it with very many people yet), it takes very few ingredients, and it can be made in advance because it actually gets better over time. This kale caesar salad will definitely be in my regular rotation.