Grilled Endive vegan Ceasar Salad
My Tasty Enemy: Welcome to “My Tasty Enemy,“ where we face our biggest culinary enemies in the kitchen. Julia isn’t fond of pineapple, Brussels sprouts and endives, Isa dislikes kohlrabi, mango, and radishes. Will we still find recipes that somehow make us like these ingredients?
A, well, healthyish salad … that tastes amazing nevertheless. We’ve never been fans of counting calories, so we won’t start it now, but of course we know about the bad reputation of „unhealthy“ ceasar salad. So to help out romaine lettuce to not feel that bad alone, we invited his buddy endive today and this is also my Tasty Enemy of today! So far, I strongly connect endives with my guinea pigs that I had when I was a child. They LOVED endives while I probably didn't prepare them right until today so they often turned out too bitter. Let's see what happens today.
One important thing before we start: Worcestershire sauce is usually not vegan (not even vegetarian) becauce they contain anchovies. BUT of course there are already vegan sauces that you’ll get online or even in the supermarket.
Grilled Chicoree Caesar Salad
Ingredients
FOR THE SALAD
- 2 endives
- 2 romaine lettuces
- 1 avocado
- 1 handful red seedless grapes
FOR THE CROÛTONS
- 3 tbsp garlic oil
- 1 tbsp vegan butter (melted)
- 3 slices of white bread
FOR THE DRESSING
- 100 g (3.5 oz) silken tofu
- 50 g (2 oz) cashews (soaked in warm water for at least 30 min)
- 1 clove garlic (pressed)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp agave nectar
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp mustard
- 2 tbsp mustard seeds
- salt&pepper
Instructions
- Lets start with croûtons because they have to roast in the oven. Stir melted vegan butter with garlic oil in a medium bowl. Cut white bread in dices and add to bowl, stir to combine. Afterwards transfer all marinated croûtons on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast in the oven at 180°C / 355°F for approx. 10 minutes until golden brown. Get ready for your flat to smell like garlic, yuuumm! Afterwards take them out of the oven and let them cool down a bit.
- In the meantime, blend all ingredients for dressing and season with salt and pepper.
- Cut stem from salads real thin with a sharp knife, because you want them to stay together. Halve and brush with some olive oil.
- Afterwards add to a grill pan and roast for approx. 5 minutes until they look nicely roasted. If you don't have a grill pan, simply use a normal frying pan, no problem.
- Time to serve! You can either serve salad quite elegant and keep them as they are, only adding dressing, croûtons and grapes besides.
- Or you can choose a more rustic way, roughly chop grilled salad and add to a large bowl together with diced avocado and washed red grapes. Stir and serve with croûtons and dressing.
So how did it taste?
Boom, that was delicious! Grilled endives are really nice, especially combined with this dressing. It doesn't taste bitter at all and is still crisp. Tasty Enemy conquered!
