Monday, April 16, 2012

Simple, Zesty, Dairy-free Caesar Salad Dressing


I love Caesar salad.

In fact, I get on kicks where I make it multiple times a week; especially when it's warm out. And today it hit 90 here in Upstate New York.

It's something about the zest and tang of the dressing and that crisp Romaine lettuce.

And for me, it's one of those foods that will cause a craving the instant I hear the words caesar salad or see a photo of the stuff.

(You can imagine writing this post is a little difficult for me.)

But! Caesar dressing can be downright fattening. And if you can't eat dairy, out of the question. I came up with this dressing a while back - when I couldn't tolerate dairy. Now, even though I can eat dairy, I usually choose to do without. In my eyes, the kick of the garlic and dijon make up for the lack of cheese.

Here's my five ingredient (not counting the salt and pepper) gluten-free, dairy-free Caesar dressing recipe:


2 tablespoons mayonaise
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
the juice of half a lemon
2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
2 zest-ed cloves of garlic ("zest-ed" - to zest or microplane your food)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl whisk all the ingredients together. Taste and adjust to your liking.

*Warning: the fresh garlic gives the dressing quite a kick. I've omitted the fresh garlic and used garlic powder (about 1 teaspoon) and more mayo to make it less kick-y.

Whether you like your Caesar salad on its own with gluten-free croutons, or with shrimp on top, don't forget about the importance of tossing your salad! Oh, and Henry says Hi!


One last thing: Did you know Caesar salad was not invented in Italy, but Mexico?

6 comments:

Jen said...

I made this tonight, I couldn't wait, it was so good!!

Liz said...

Nice, Jen! Thanks so much. I hope you and your love both ate it; otherwise the garlic can be a little much ;)

Jen said...

He's away for work this week so I can eat all the garlic I want!! ;)

Therese from MI said...

It was so nice to see Henry again!

Liz said...

Therese, thanks! He was pretty stand-offish when my son was first born, but now he's hanging around again - especially when there is food around :)

Selfdestruktor said...

Not sure whether anyone will pick this up after so long, but here goes...
Does the recipe call for a normal Dijon mustard or dijonaise?
I used a Macro brand Dijon mustard (it's just what I had on hand) and even after quadrupling the other ingredients, it still just tasted like hot/bitter mustard, nothing even remotely like any Caesar we've ever tasted.
Any tips?