Kale Caesar Salad

I had my first Kale Caesar Salad at Cafe Rouge in Berkeley earlier this year and loved every bite of it. I vowed to myself that I would make something similar at home but I waited ever so many months to do so until I harvested the first Lacinato kale from my own garden. One of the things that I loved about Cafe Rouge's version of the salad was the texture which was the result of finely shredding the kale rather than tearing or cutting the leaves into larger pieces. It has been too long to accurately remember the flavor of the Cafe Rouge salad so I cannot say that this is a replication of that salad, but it turned out to be just what I wanted, no need to fiddle around with the recipe, this it IT.

1 pound very fresh Lacinato kale, preferably not too mature and tough
Juice of half a lemon (standard lemon, not Meyer)
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
2 anchovy filets (preferably salt packed, rinsed), minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 egg yolk
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
Dash of hot sauce (Caribe)
1/2 cup or your favorite extra virgin olive oil (McEvoy Ranch is mine)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano, plus additional
Generous grinding of black pepper
Your favorite crunchy croutons (homemade whole wheat garlic for me)
Boquerones (Spanish marinated anchovies), optional

Wash the kale in 2 or 3 changes of water, inspecting thoroughly for aphids and caterpillars. Cut out the mid ribs. Stack the kale leaf halves in batches and then slice them crosswise into short julienne (the width of the leaf halves) about 1/4-inch or so wide. Place in a large mixing bowl.

Combine the lemon juice, garlic, anchovy, mustard, egg yolk, Worcestershire, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil to create a thick emulsified dressing.

Pour all the dressing over the kale and toss well, add all of the Parmigiano and as much freshly ground black pepper as you desire and toss to mix thoroughly. At this point you can toss in the croutons or save them to scatter on top of the salad.  Serve immediately or, one of the beauties of this salad if you don't add the croutons right away, refrigerate to serve later.

Serve with a sprinkle of Parmigiano, more freshly ground black pepper, croutons, and the optional Boquerones draped over the top.

We had this salad for dinner (as dinner, not as a side salad) and ended up with leftovers which were refrigerated overnight and were delicious for lunch the next day. There wasn't enough to save past lunch but I suspect that it would have kept well even a bit longer.