The Caesar salad is an institution. Crisp lettuce, salty capers and parmesan, crunchy croutons, and of course, that creamy, tangy, peppery dressing. Name those traditional elements together and almost anyone instantly knows exactly what you’re talking about.
If you haven’t already noticed though, we don’t really do traditional around here. That's why our co-founder, and trained chef, James, has taken creative liberties to veganize and mix up this well known dish.
He’s created a plant-based mayo dressing (which means no soaking cashews or getting turned up noses at the mention of “tofu dressing”), added in baby kale, and loaded on the VGB Chicken and Bacon.
Be sure to share your Very Good Caesar Salad with us using #TheVeryGoodButchers and tagging @theverygoodbutchers.
Serves 2
Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- 250g Very Good Chicken (aka Deli Fowl which can be found in Charcuterie Box or in the Butcher Shop Deli)
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Directions
Cut the Deli Fowl into 1cm thick strips. Heat a griddle pan to medium-high. Lightly brush each piece of Deli Fowl will oil and griddle until nice char marks appear, approximately 2-3 minutes each side.
Once cooled, tear the Deli Fowl into bite-size pieces and marinate in the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic and Italian seasoning for a few hours but ideally overnight.
Dressing
Ingredients
- 2.5 c vegan mayo
- ¼ c caper juice
- 4 cloves garlic
- ½ c nutritional yeast
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 c capers
- 1.5 tsp green peppercorns
- 1.5 tsp ground pepper
Directions
Put all ingredients in a blender. Use the pulse function to achieve desired consistency. James likes to keep the capers and peppercorns a bit chunky. This will make lots of dressing so you can store the remainder in the fridge for up to a month.
Salad
Ingredients
- 4-6 slices of Very Good Bacon
- 1 large head of romaine lettuce
- Handful of capers
- 1.5 c baby kale
- ¼ c vegan parmesan
- 1 c croutons
Directions
Heat a skillet to medium-high. Cook Bacon strips for 3-4 minutes turning halfway until desired crispiness has been achieved.
To put the salad together, roughly chop the romaine and combine with the baby kale. Add ⅔ of the Deli Fowl and Bacon and the croutons; mix well. Add dressing to achieve desired level of sauciness. James likes a lot of dressing on my caesar salads but you do you.
Divide into two bowls and top with remaining Deli Fowl, Bacon and capers. Drizzle a little extra dressing and finish with the parmesan.
Enjoy!
