It has been a very long 6 weeks of preparing our garden for the summer season and now we are able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labours. There is still a few little jobs to do and of course general maintenance but now we are seeing grass coming up and our vegetable kitchen garden taking shape. I made sure I planted the herbs and vegetables that I use most when cooking and so far the bunnies have chosen not to demolish it. I think moving our garden closer to the house and having a crazy pooch about the yard has deterred them for now.
In the garden I planted kale, spinach, radish, carrot, asparagus, sun choke and a truck load of tomatoes and peppers. I also have a dedicated area of beautiful herbs such as mint, rosemary, thyme, chives and basil. This will be the season of amazing salads if I play my cards right.
This salad is a simple take on a regular caesar salad but with a great take on regular bread crumbs. They are made of nuts and fresh herbs so not only are they gluten free but they are much higher in protein and flavour. When processing the nuts be sure to whiz them well so you don’t end up with big chinks.
For the dressing I have suggested to use almond meal but if you feel ambitious you could opt to use whole raw almonds but they will have to be soaked for at lease 12 hours. This will give the dressing a lovely creamy texture.
Caesar Salad with Gluten Free Nutty Croutons Recipe
By Published: May 25, 2015
- Yield: 6 Servings
- Prep: 35 mins
- Cook: 40 mins
- Ready In: 1 hr 15 mins
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp flax seed ground
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 2 tbsp onion sweet, chopped
- 2 tbsp parsley fresh, packed
- 2 tbsp Basil fresh, packed
- 1 tbsp thyme
- 1 tbsp rosemary
- 1/2 tsp oregano dried
- 1/4 tsp sea salt fine
- 1/2 cup almond meal raw
- 1 whole garlic head
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 4 tsp lemon juice fresh squeezed
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 heads romaine lettuce
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- In a small bowl, combine flax seed, oil and 2 tbsp warm water. Set aside for 5 minutes to allow the mixture to thicken.
- In a food processor the garlic, almonds and process until finely chopped. Add remaining ingredients and process until a sticky ball of dough forms.
- With a 1/2 tsp scoop, scoop out dough and place on prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes then gently turn and bake for an additional 10 minutes being careful not to allow them to burn
- Let croutons cool for 10 minutes. They will firm up when cooled
- Meanwhile, Cut off the top of the garlic head to expose all the raw cloves and remove any loose skin.
- Wrap head in foil and place in the preheated oven.
- Roast for 35 - 40 minutes or until cloves are soft and golden. Let cool for 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
- Removed from foil and squeeze garlic out of their skins and into a food processor.
- Add the almond meal, oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt, dry mustard, pepper and 1/4 cup of water to the food processor and process until smooth. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.
- Place lettuce in a large bowl and add dressing. Toss till fully coated. Sprinkle the Nutty Croutons and nutritional yeast flake over the salad just before serving.
