WITH NUTTY HERB CROUTONS…………………………PAGE 109
Here is another 2-fer since you make the croutons from scratch too. Page 296
I love salads!! I eat a lot of salads and I have to tell you this is a GREAT Caesar. Hail Caesar!! (Sorry, couldn’t resist) Even though there is no parm cheese in the dressing, the texture of the home made dressing tastes exactly like there is parm cheese. AMAZING!!! I did not miss a thing from this salad and it was dairy and gluten free.
The croutons were yummy and you would swear there’s bread involved. This recipe uses almonds to work the magic. The homemade dressing uses soaked almonds (I forgot to soak my almonds overnight but everything worked after just soaking 7 hours. Popping the little darlings out of their skin was easy and fun and I bet you could get your little sous-chef to help on this step. This recipe is labor intensive but worth the time. Your efforts will be appreciated and those gluten free buddies of yours will get a wonderful tasty surprise. (Gluten free is just sort of coming into its own. More products are available and even ready made products are tastier than in the beginning. If your friend has been gluten free for several years, they will be singing your praises throughout the meal.) The almonds used in the croutons do not have to be soaked and you can even leave the skins on. A food processor is the only way to go with this recipe!! Croutons can be stored in the frig if you have any left over.
Side note: My brother was visiting and I put him on crouton duty. I didn’t have any whole almonds in the house but I did have chopped almonds and they worked beautifully and no peeling or soaking involved. They have a Thanksgiving flair due to the seasonings and it was hard to not keep nibbling on the croutons before they got to the salad. SO GOOD!!!!! I also had cashew cream left over from the dinner recipe the night before so used that as my base for the dressing instead of almond cream. It worked and was Delicious!!!!!
I don’t normally have a lot of almonds on hand and I would imagine not everyone has ground flax seed sitting around, but, the rest of the ingredients are accessible. Both the home made dressing and the croutons take a little prep time but each time you make this, the process gets easier and easier and the results are worth the time. I came home with an empty salad bowl, so can say, it was a success! This recipe just brought Caesar salads back into my life!!!!!!
