vegetarian caesar salad

You may be thinking ‘surely all Caesar salads are vegetarian’ but of course you’d be wrong! A true classic Caesar includes anchovies and of course parmesan and real parmesan is in fact made with animal rennet and therefore not vegetarian.  Fear not for I have developed the ultimate vegetarian Caesar salad recipe.

The thing is, I try and be as vegetarian as I can in the summer months but one of the things I miss the most is a decent Caesar Salad.  It’s hard to get that salty tang without anchovies and parmesan but my secret is a mix of cottage cheese, very strong cheddar cheese, garlic and mustard.

for the croutons

• some stale bread – I used some homemade wholemeal – torn into chunks
• a generous drizzle of olive oil
• a generous drizzle of chilli oil
• a pinch or two of the amazing Garlic Sea Salt from the Cornish Sea Salt Company
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts

for the caesar dressing

• 2 tablespoons cottage cheese
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• the zest and juice of half a lemon
• 100g very strong cheddar – finely grated

Start by tearing up chunks of bread for croutons.  I’m using some ‘about to go stale’ wholemeal but any bread would work. Drizzle with olive oil and chilli oil and sprinkle with this fab garlic seasalt from The Cornish Sea Salt Company.

Sprinkle with pine nuts and roast on 180c (fan) until golden. (roughly 15 mins)

For the dressing whizz up the ingredients in a blender until smooth.  It needs to be on the sweet side of ‘blow your head off.’ You may want to add some more lemon juice or mayo depending on how sweet you like it.

Then just build your salad.  I like to use large leaves and wedges of  baby gem and I throw in some avocado too.

The piece de resistance is the vingerary hit of the amazing Opies Cornichons and Onions which you can purchase at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrisons

Eat and of course, enjoy!