Tips & Techniques

How to Eat All That Zucchini? A Newfangled, Totally Genius Caesar Salad

August 23, 2017

Caesar purists, stay calm. This salad from the historic Blackberry Farm resort in Walland, Tennessee has plenty in common with the classic you know and love—both in key ingredients and in feisty-bright-creamy-garlicky experience—but it also diverges, quite a lot.

We’re still going to call it Caesar, and it’s so good you should make it even if we called it Chuck.

Because brawny Caesar ingredients like lemon, garlic, and Worcestershire inevitably still zing through (how could they not?), but are softened with the addition of Green Goddess-style freshness (in tarragon, chives, and lemon zest).

Shop the Story

And while the ingredient list may look longer than your average Caesar, everything fluffs together near-instantly in a food processor, spinning into a smooth, creamy-green elixir, ready to pour on anything you choose.

But in particular: You are to pour it on zoodles—a.k.a. raw matchsticks of zucchini that resemble, arguably, a noodle. While the watery green crunch of Romaine lettuce (and celery, if you’re my dad) has always been an excellent foil for a creamy, pushy dressing, so too is the zoodle.

Join The Conversation

Top Comment:
“I am eating raw eggs every time I order a caesar salad in a restaurant). I lie to myself. But to make this in my kitchen, I can't put a raw egg in that dressing. Is there any substitute for the raw egg that might work? Some olive oil or something? I dunno... Thanks for any suggestions, and thanks for posting this recipe!”
— Terri S.
Comment

It’s fresh in a more subdued way, with a pale resilience, and substantial enough to be lunch. Just a thin blanket of dressing is enough to find yourself eating a whole lot of zucchini, which is handy because that seems to be how zucchini comes.

The last flourish is a cheese crisp, or frico—and the one step that makes this not a completely no-heat recipe. But I don’t recommend skipping it, no matter how sweaty you feel.

Because for the effort of grating cheese in piles and baking it for 5 minutes, you get the fanciest-looking and most addictive of garnishes: its salty, lacy bite snipping and snapping against the glossy, soft, and bouncy salad. Caesar purists, have I swayed you to the dark side yet?

Photos by Julia Gartland

Got a genius recipe to share—from a classic cookbook, an online source, or anywhere, really? Please send it my way (and tell me what's so smart about it) at [email protected].

Listen & Subscribe

From our new podcast network, The Genius Recipe Tapes is lifelong Genius hunter Kristen Miglore’s 10-year-strong column in audio form, featuring all the uncut gems from the weekly column and video series. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss out.

Listen & Subscribe

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Tracy
    Tracy
  • krikri
    krikri
  • Terri Simon
    Terri Simon
  • Kristen Miglore
    Kristen Miglore
I'm an ex-economist, lifelong-Californian who moved to New York to work in food media in 2007, before returning to the land of Dutch Crunch bread and tri-tip barbecues in 2020. Dodgy career choices aside, I can't help but apply the rational tendencies of my former life to things like: recipe tweaking, digging up obscure facts about pizza, and deciding how many pastries to put in my purse for "later."

7 Comments

Tracy December 27, 2017
Caesar dressing without anchovies?! :(
 
Kristen M. December 30, 2017
With all the other well-rounded flavors, you don't miss them (and I love a good anchovy-y Caesar) but you could always throw in a couple if you like.
 
Tracy December 30, 2017
Very true.....ill give it a try. I'm always julienne chopping cukes and zukes....I'm sure the result will be delicious either way.
 
krikri December 27, 2017
True confession: I only made the cheese crisps. Deliciousness (and ease!) vouched for. I love caesar salads though so will report back once I've made it too.
 
Kristen M. December 30, 2017
Woo-hoo!
 
Terri S. September 3, 2017
Hello! This recipe sounds amazing--I love caesar salad, in its purist form and in a divergent form--I'm not a caesar snob. I am not, however, a fan of eating raw eggs (I know, I know... I am eating raw eggs every time I order a caesar salad in a restaurant). I lie to myself. But to make this in my kitchen, I can't put a raw egg in that dressing. Is there any substitute for the raw egg that might work? Some olive oil or something? I dunno... Thanks for any suggestions, and thanks for posting this recipe!
 
Kristen M. September 4, 2017
Hi Terri—I think you could just leave the yolk out, and it should still emulsify nicely because of the mustard, and will just be a little less creamy. No big deal. Or you could use the yolk from a pasteurized or even soft-cooked egg, or like in this dressing: https://food52.com/recipes/37034-eric-korsh-s-farm-lettuces-salad-with-dill-vinaigrette