Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing

A warning.

As a dairy-avoidant child, and a plant based adult, I have never actually had conventional caesar salad. As a result, this dressing is not aiming to be exactly like the real thing.

I’ve been told this dressing is far more tangy, more garlic-forward than the real thing. But that’s why I like it so much.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup raw cashews, soaked overnight, or boiled in water for 20 minutes. (if you’re using a high-speed blender then you might not need to soak)
  
• 1/2 Cup water
  
• Juice of half a lemon (2 Tbsp, minimum)
• 2 Tbsp white vinegar, OR 1/4 Cup of brine from Matt and Steve’s Extreme Beans. I keep empty jars in the fridge just for this recipe.
• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp capers, plus a splash of the brine
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Add all ingredients to a high speed blender and blend until super smooth. Feel free to pour in a bit of olive oil while you’re blending, but I haven’t actually found that it adds much.

Taste your dressing, and adjust with more brine or salt and pepper.

Serve with massaged fresh kale or other greens.

When leafy greens are hard to find (like during a pandemic) we’ve eaten this drizzled on roasted broccoli, or raw, shredded brussel sprouts.

Keep in a jar in the fridge for about 5 days. It will thicken, you can loosen it up by whisking in a little olive oil, or just stirring to warm slightly.

If you don’t have cashews, you can swap out the cashews for chickpeas, swap both the cashews and water for 1/2 Cup of hummus and 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Your dressing won’t end up as creamy, but it’s still really good!

Remember, we’re in a pandemic, substitutions are allowed.