Welcome back to #EmerilHive, a now semi-weeklyish newsletter from Becca Thimmesch. I send out recipes on Thursdays now, remember?
Good morning girls and gays, let’s talk salad.
I am fully, truly aware that Caesar salad is going through a moment right now. And as a well-adjusted person, I’m fine with that. Good for her!
Despite no longer eating steak, I am a Steakhouse Person. My parents are Steakhouse People. From Bethesda, no less!
The Caesar salad was a driving force in my childhood. My mom, like a good Julia acolyte, makes hers the classic way, with tender romaine and a barely-poached egg. My dad prefers bottled dressing and a heap of anchovies. Like a good child of divorce, I will eat either with a smile on my face.
I love most Caesars, save the tragic ones at like, the airport. I love all-romaine, fancy mixes with shredded kale or brussels sprouts, carnivorous, meatless, and vegan alike. I love a Caesar wrap, and won’t fault the addition of buffalo sauce.
Lately, I mostly make mine with Tahini. The original dressing is just an emulsion, and tahini functions very similarly in creating that creamy base.
I’d like to take a step back here, though, and discuss my salad philosophy. If you, like me, grew up in the late nineties and early 2000s, you might also associate salads with diet culture at its most punishing.
In typing that last sentence, I had a deeply cursed brain blast and, through the magic of Boolean search operators, have unearthed this 2006 press release for 1-calorie salad spritzes, courtesy of the good people at Wishbone. Ah, flashbacks!
(Rebecca, do not rehash that time a few years ago a woman you used to organize with posted a whole ass deranged tweet thread about how if you don’t eat a salad every day—with only a tablespoon of dressing—that you’re not a healthy person!! It’s not worth it baby!!!)
I think we all need to maybe cool it when it comes to salad. It’s food!
Sometimes, I really want one that’s like 5 different colors and chock full of every possible micronutrient, and sometimes I want a wedge salad with blue cheese dressing, and sometimes (most of the time) I want to eat arugula with olive oil and lemon and salt.
Salad, like all foods, is neither inherently good or bad. Eating one cannot set you back nor elevate you. It’s all just food.
I feel compelled to say all that for a number of reasons, but mainly in this case because every recipe for tahini Caesar dressing seems to fall over itself about how hEaLthY it is.
Which like, sure, but I don’t like what this type of fawning implies about a conventional Caesar dressing, and I refuse to pit two gorgeous queens against each other.
This Caesar version is convenient, creamy, and delicious, so let’s leave it at that.
The original recipe calls for Worcestershire (Wooster-sure) sauce for that umami depth, but I generally use anchovies because I like them. To keep this vegan, you can use vegan Worcestershire, chopped capers for a similar briny taste, or white miso. You could even try a drop or two of dark soy.
For the Dressing (amounts per serving):
Roughly one heaping spoonful of tahini
A big dab, maybe half a teaspoon of quality Dijon mustard
The juice of one half of a lemon
One garlic clove, microplaned
A shocking amount of fresh black pepper
A handful of either grated parmigiano-reggiano or nutritional yeast
A good glug of olive oil
Ice water, up to 1/4 cup
(optional) chopped anchovies, chopped capers, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, or a dab of white miso paste
For the Salad:
One head of Romaine lettuce, outer fronds and tender hearts
Six or so leaves of lacinato kale
To Make the Salad
Wash your lettuces by floating them in ice cold water two or three times. Yes, you have to!
In a large mixing bowl, mix lemon and tahini. The tahini will seize up a bit—add a spoonful of ice water at a time, mixing thoroughly, until your mixture is smooth and light in color.
Add in your remaining ingredients and season to taste with salt and additional pepper.
Dry your lettuce, with towels or a salad spinner (please buy a salad spinner). Use tongs to toss your lettuce vigorously with the dressing—you know, like they do at Sweetgreen.
Finish with additional parm or nutritional yeast, and another crack of pepper.
A well-dressed Caesar salad doesn’t need anything, but you can add grilled chicken, salmon, or shrimp if you’d like. To keep mine vegan, I like to roast off some chickpeas with lots of olive oil until they’re a bit crispy. In a moment of August desperation I topped a Caesar with cannellini beans and it was honestly fine. I’m crouton ambivalent, but I will be making some tonight on Instagram because I have bread to use up. It’s all fine!
Nice pic!