Kale Caesar Salad

My sister Ashley is many things and one of those many things is an incredible gifted piano player... jazz piano to be exact, and her fantastic album can be found here. She is also somewhat of a free spirit, a constant world traveler, a "health nut", a yogi, a night owl and anyone who has crossed her path would agree she is an incredibly positive and kind hearted person.

At this very moment she is playing piano on a cruise ship which sails from Vancouver to Alaska every week. Most of the time she floats around Europe and so to have her on the west coast or "fresh coast" as she calls it is a real treat. Yesterday, she had a few hours off the boat and she jumped onto the sky train, with 2 broken toes after dropping a keyboard on her foot, and headed out to Burnaby to see me and her new nephew for a few blessed hours. Knowing that my sister has VERY strict food requirements...she's mostly a raw veganist but lately will eat some wild meat, I decided to make us an extremely healthy salad. I figured I couldn't go wrong with kale.

I've actually been making this salad fairly regularly now for a few months now and even the biggest kale haters will love it. My own mother could not believe she was actually eating raw kale when I told her as she was devouring a bowl of it. I like to make it when I feel the need to detox or just feel like eating something that will make me feel good.

Kale Caesar Salad
adapted slightly from here

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup lemon juice
8 whole anchovies
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 large bowl of shredded kale (about 8 cups)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese for the dressing
1/4 cup parmesan cheese for garnish
salt and pepper to taste

Optional: add any other chopped vegetables or protein to the finished salad. I added a few cherry tomatoes and cucumbers here. Sometimes I like to add good quality canned smoked salmon or smoked tofu.

Toss all ingredients into the blender, saving 1/4 cup parmesan for a garnish. Place kale in a large bowl and toss with dressing. Garnish with parmesan and serve.