Caesar or Greek…I’m pretty sure the prize for the greatest salad of all has to go to one of these two. I was playing around in the kitchen this week and decided to do a slight twist on the classic Caesar. Having gratefully received a delicious shipment of Peter’s Yard crispbreads recently, I’ve been loving trying out all of the different flavours and variations they offer and I stumbled across a new favourite…the spelt & poppy seed sourdough crispbread. These are without doubt the finest crackers I’ve ever eaten. Such delicious flavour and the most unbelievable crunch, absolute perfection.
I decided to take that crunch and use it to replace the croutons you’d normally find in a Caesar. I used the classic dressing as a base upon which to layer little gem, perfectly boiled quails eggs and then a lovely finishing touch I learnt from Donna Hay, crispy roasted kale. That stuff is so good that I ended up snacking on an entire tray and felt delightfully guilt-free afterwards! I might start offering up crispy kale as a healthy crisp for our little one, as she loves anything crunchy.
The recipe will make a good bowl full of Caesar dressing, so feel free to cut it down or do as I did, and have a delicious dip to dunk carrots, low-carb kale crisps or anything else you might fancy snacking on. It will keep sealed in the fridge for a few days.
Serves 2
Ingredients Caesar dressing 2 egg yolks 1 clove of garlic, crushed 1 tsp Dijon mustard 6 salted anchovies Juice of 1 lime 150ml extra-virgin olive oil 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 15g Parmesan, grated Crispy Kale A handful of kale or cavolo nero 1 tbsp olive oil 20g Parmesan, grated Other ingredients 6 quails eggs, room temperature 4 Peter's Yard spelt & poppyseed crispbreads 1 little gem lettuce, leaves separated and chopped A few shavings of Parmesan (use a peeler).
Method
Whiz up the egg yolks, garlic, Dijon, anchovies and lime juice in a processor until you have a wet paste. With the machine running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil in a steady stream until you have a very creamy dressing. Next, add Worcestershire sauce, grated parmesan and a good grind of black pepper, then blend until thick and creamy.
In a saucepan of boiling water, gently lower the quails eggs in and boil for 2 and 1/2 minutes. Remove and place in bowl of ice water to arrest cooking. Once cool, peel and reserve (1).
Preheat oven to 180°C or 360°F. In a bowl toss the Kale with olive oil and Parmesan and season. Place on greaseproof-lined non-stick tray and bake for 12 minutes or until crisp.
Top the crispbread with Caesar dressing, little gem, some Kale and the quails eggs (halved). Finish with a shaving or two of Parmesan and serve.
Useful tips
(1) When you cook quails eggs, allow them to come to room temperature so their shells don’t crack when they hit the hot water. Lower them in gently for the same reason. When you peel them, tap them on a firm surface and gently roll back and forth to break up the shell. The shell is attached to a very thin membrane, so use your nails to pierce the membrane and carefully peel it off, if you do it very gently you can peel the whole shell off in one piece.
