Vegan Caesar Salad with Creamy Garlic Caper Dressing & Coconut Bacon

Recipe Difficulty: Easy, just read the post well for all my tips for success.

​Recipe Notes
I get a strong craving for this salad every so often, and it doesn't go away until I make it! It is definitely one of the more indulgent salads in my repertoire and not the type of thing I want to eat everyday (although I do eat it daily for about a week until I run out!). I like lots of dressing, an obscene amount of coconut bacon, and a good amount of vegan cheese. Yeah. Like I said, it is an indulgence, but I find it perfect as I make it. The sweet smokiness of the coconut bacon balances the briny caper dressing. ​

Caesar Dressing
This Caesar dressing should probably be called "creamy garlicky caper dressing", because it does taste different than the non vegan Caesar dressings I have made in the past. If you don't like capers, and are looking for something that is identical to classic non vegan caesar salad, this isn't it. I don't care that it's kind of its own thing, because I love this even more. The dressing is made by blending together vegan mayo (I use vegan Hellman's mayo or I make my own), capers, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt & pepper. So simple. It's super garlicky but that is what I like. It is also bright and punchy from the capers and red wine vinegar which for me is perfect. It will be very thick, but just toss your salad well to distribute evenly.  This dressing will keep in a container in the fridge for a long time. I always double the recipe.

Coconut Bacon
​I am guessing that coconut bacon might be a polarizing thing. This salad in general would undoubtedly be a polarizing dish... Not everyone is going to love it, but I love it, and all of my recipes are what I use for my own meal prep soooo....if you try it I hope you like it, but if you don't...that's OK too, everyone is different.

Shredded Coconut
This recipe calls for unsweetened shredded coconut. Where I live, I have never been able to find it at the grocery store in a normal bag you typically buy coconut in. I can find every other kind of coconut, but none of them are what you want for this recipe. Shredded coconut is larger than the stuff I usually use in baking recipes. I have a cloth bag specifically for shredded coconut in my cupboard and I refill it at the bulk store when it is empty. I buy it specifically for this recipe. 

Prep
The coconut bacon is sweet, smoky, salty. I don't hold back while adding it to my salad. I like lots, the salad needs lots. If you think you think you have added enough, you probably didn't. To prep the coconut bacon, you just toss all of the ingredients together in a bowl, spread it onto a lined baking sheet, and then bake. When it cools the bacon will crisp up.

Cooking
To bake the coconut bacon, you need to keep it in an even thin layer but also keep the shape tight together if that makes sense. No straggly bits of coconut hanging out by their lonesome along the edges. The edges burn easily so compacting it as much as possible without being a thick layer is the idea. When I toss it a few times while it's cooking, I form it back into this shape. Again, this is to prevent the pieces from burning along the edges, although the edges will darken first.

Taste
I want to mention that when I taste the coconut bacon right off the pan I don't love it. Not much of an endorsement I realize, but my final judgement of this coconut bacon isn't from just eating it alone. I love it when it is mixed into this salad. I also often make a double batch for sprinkling in other random salads, too. The recipe calls for a ridiculous amount of liquid smoke, I am aware. It is potent, but again, mixed into the salad it just works for me. 

​Croutons 
I don't typically bother with croutons. I really only made them for the photograph. But if this salad just doesn't seem right to you without them, go for it! I like sourdough bread for making croutons if I am going that route. Rip the bread into bite size chunks roughly the same size. Toss with extra virgin olive oil , salt & pepper and bake in the oven at 350°F. Stir occasionally until golden brown and crispy. If they taste more like toast than a crouton, you probably didn't add enough oil. (It happened to me once, I just drizzled a bit more oil on my toast-like croutons when they were out of the oven and they seemed to just absorb the oil and tasted great in the end. Not really a tried and true method but I would do it again.) You can always buy croutons at the store, I have yet to find vegan ones at the shop near me.

Cheese
 I find not all vegan cheeses are created equal. Sometimes a vegan parmesan works. I have also used vegan shredded mozza in this recipe, certain brands work well and honestly remind me more of parmesan than the mozza they claime to be. However some vegan mozza is actually mozza like and that isn't what I want here. A few brands that work in this recipe are Emborg, Vio Life & Presidents Choice. Parmela Creamy has a shredded mozzarella that for example doesn't work in this recipe, because it's convincingly mozza like. I love it for pizza and other applications. This is all very wordy and perhaps confusing. Bottom line look for a firm, thin vegan shred. I would also love to try making my own parmesan topping sometime, but haven't gotten around to it yet. 

Lettuce and Other Add Ins
You can use straight up chopped romaine for classic Caesar salad vibes, but I personally really do like to add in some shredded kale to my chopped romaine. I like shredding it because kale is quite fibrous. If you chop it too big it is harder to chew. I know straight up kale Caesar salad is a thing, but I definitely like using a combination because of the fresh crunch romaine lettuce gives. I often use romaine hearts, and used somewhere between 2 - 3 for the amount of dressing.

Finely chopped broccoli is something I don't hesitate to add to this salad too. I also like halved cherry tomatoes in there. Beyond veggies, I often add chickpeas or tofu for protein, and if I want the salad  to be really hearty,  fusilli pasta tossed into the mix is delicious. 

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**The coconut bacon recipe is adapted from Avant Garde Vegan.