A party pleasing salad
I love bringing this dish to family get-togethers. Trust me, the creamy dressing combined with roasted chickpeas, homemade parmesan “cheese,” and crispy romaine hearts is a crowd pleaser. It’s dairy free, gluten free, and packed with good-for-you ingredients. Sometimes I make two batches, so we can have it at home the next day.
Greek Caesar Salad
Yield: 6-8 servings Prep Time: 15 minutes Bake time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
For the Dressing:
3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of non-dairy plain yogurt (I used Silk plain yogurt)
Lemon zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 medium sized lemon
2 cloves of garlic (or 1 large clove), minced
1 teaspoon of nutritional yeast
1/8 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce (I used Annie’s brand)
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
Sea salt and white pepper to taste
For the “parmesan cheese”:
1 cup of raw cashews
3 1/2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon of fine sea salt.
For the salad:
3 Romaine Lettuce Hearts, chopped, rinsed and dried
1 15 oz. can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Sea Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put all of the dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender. Pulse until creamy, place in a covered bowl or mason jar, and let the dressing sit in the refrigerator.
3. In a mixing bowl, toss the rinsed chickpeas with about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, sea salt, and pepper to taste. Spread the chickpeas evenly on a non-stick baking tray and bake for 30 minutes, rolling the chickpeas after the first 15 minutes to cook evenly.
4. While the chickpeas are roasting, put all of the ingredients for the “parmesan cheese” in a food processor. Pulse until the cashews are little crumbles. Set aside.
5. Wash and chop the romaine lettuce. Place the lettuce in a large bowl and add the parmesan cheese. Once the chickpeas have cooled for 5 minutes, add to the salad. Serve with the dressing on the side.
Enjoy!
Haha, shame on me. I saw dairy free then yogurt and questioned how it was dairy free. Shows I need to read every word. It looks delicious and is likely much healthier.
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Hi Manee. Silk makes a good plain dairy free yogurt. I also like Kite Hill’s but can only find it at Whole Foods. 🙂
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So delicious!
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So happy you liked it. 🙂
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Beautiful dish! I love the different ingredients you added and the fact that you made this healthy (:
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Thank you Nicolas. Your dishes are always beautiful on Blogtastic Food. I can’t really compete with a professional chef 😉
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A great party salad idea!
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Hi. It’s super easy to make. Thanks for stopping by!
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Ellie, this is perfect ! We are going to a family braai (barbeque) and I said I would take a salad…..I am making and taking this one 🙂 So excited !!!!
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Hi Lynne. I hope you have a fun braai 🙂 I know your family will like this. I made it for mine over the weekend and they insisted that I post the recipe.
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Ellie, I made your salad over the weekend and my family really loved it. Next weekend is ‘the family braai’ so will be making it again. This one is a keeper for sure,and I know it is going to be made often as we love salads in my house 🙂 Have a great week ahead 🙂
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loved the recipe 😍👍….never thought of such beautiful combo…soon gonna try ☺️
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Hi Nadi. So happy you liked the recipe. You have such a beautiful blog. I love following your culinary journey.
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thank you so much Ellie 😍
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Ok the roasted chickpeas kicked it up several notches. YAAASSSSS!
I love anchovy in my dressing…so good!
Delicious 🌷
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Hey. I’ve been admittedly scared to give anchovy a try. 🙂 I need to be more daring. After seeing your blog on real good food, I need to up my game 😉
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LOL!!! I use the kind in the tube because the ones in the tin kinda gross me out! LOL!!!
Frankly, anchovy is the ingredient that does it for me when it comes to a Caesar Salad.
BTW, thanks for your kind compliment. But trust me, Ms. Ellie Bleu is at the top of the food blog game!
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I didn’t know you could get it in the tube. 🙂 I’m the same way about the ones in the tins.
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Girl, you will get your LIFE if you add anchovy to your dressing. I typically find it in the same section as regular anchovy. It’s called anchovy paste:
http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-1606904/?affsrcid=AFF0005&utm_term=297862738632_category_Food_Beverages_%26_Tobacco_custom_label_2&product_id=1606904&adpos=1o6&creative=45300918701&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=Cj0KEQiA5vXEBRChycOl36LPn5EBEiQAJV2-bC5rpSJheqJjgKOnELghSyvqhBM1GRgp3GYabUcJ-wcaAugN8P8HAQ
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Okay. I’m convinced 🙂 As long as it doesn’t have eyes looking at me 😉
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If there are eyes, they are all ground up in the tube!
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!
I’m sorry…that was bad!!!!!
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Lol. Yuck 🙂 I think I’ll stick to Worcestershire sauce. My mom had a funny story about using anchovies too. I’m mot going to knock it if I haven’t tried it. 🙂
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LOL!!! It’s probably just the filets…sans the dome! LOL!!!
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How inventive Ellie! Wonderful. Looks delicious.
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Thanks Tracey. I hope you have a wonderful day 🙂
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Sounds great!
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I’m so happy you liked it. 🙂
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It looks really appetizing 🙂
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Thank you. Its a fun recipe to try.
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That looks so good! I love the addition of chickpeas!
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Oh thank you. So happy you liked it. 🙂
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This is very interesting! Although despite my love of cashews, the love for Parmigiano is bigger XD (have no issues with milk products, so thankfully I can have lactose and dairy).
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Hi Eva! Lucky you 🙂 Freshly grated Parmigiano would be perfect in this recipe.
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Yay! Thank you for posting this! I cannot wait to make it! Going to order my food processor today! 😀
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Perfect! I like the Cuisinart mini one. It’s always on sale and doesn’t take up a lot of room. I hope you have a good weekend 🙂
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Love the addition of chickpeas in this! Thanks for this share Ellie.
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Thank you Sumith. It’s always nice to get feedback from you.
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I’m not a vegan but this salad looks incredibly interesting to dive right in 🙂
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Hi Maria. I’m happy you liked it. It’s going to be fun to follow your culinary adventures 🙂
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The dressing sounds great and the whole dish is ideal for any dairy and gluten intolerant people or vegans, as you say. It was interesting to see how your home-made parmesan was made, too. Great recipe.
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Thank you Millie. In this day and age, it’s hard to please all my friends and family, meat eaters and vegans alike :). This salad seemed to satisfy everyone. I hope you had a wonderful day!
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This sounds delicious!
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I’m glad you liked it. So happy you stopped by the blog 🙂
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Sounds delicious! And I love how the recipe is sensitive of dietary restrictions.
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Thank you…I love a recipe that can appease everyone at the table….especially any vegetarians or someone like me that needs to keep heart healthy recipes in mind.
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