Roasted Garlic Kale Caesar with Spicy Breadcrumbs and Charred Lemon

kale caesar is better than regular caesar, don't @ me

Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’re somehow reading this and aren’t yet subscribed, be sure to do so below. You can expect recipes in your inbox every Tuesday, and paid subscribers receive even more every Thursday!

CATCH UP!

I got some good news this week, and I’m really crossing my fingers that all goes well so I can share it soon. I’ll definitely be sharing here first because I feel like my newsletter people deserve it the most. Sometimes I think no one reads this little blurb, but then I get a message or a text about something I wrote deep in one of these paragraphs, and it makes me happy to know that I have a community who follows along not just on the surface level when I post a pretty picture.

It’s wild to me that this year is already coming to a close. For some reason, I’m having a hard time picturing what happened this year, but I think it was a lot. Grant and I took our first international trip together, we moved out of our apartment and lived in Austin for one month, I started TikTok, we started going to concerts and weddings and parties again, I STARTED THIS NEWSLETTER, my best friend had a baby, we went to a bajillion open houses, the list could go on.

I think for me, this year has really been evaluating what online life means to me. What do I want out of life, and is it best accomplished through what I’m doing now? So far, the answer is yes, but I’ve realized it needs to come with boundaries, and not boundaries of what I share (because I think being honest and vulnerable is good, as long as you’re not exploiting anyone), but with how much I internalize. I think other creators struggle with this daily as well, which it’s impossible not to when you open your work and personal life up to criticism from strangers.

Ironically, I think joining TikTok has made me focus less on numbers and more on the joy of art. I’m probably being repetitive at this point, since I’ve covered all these topics in weeks prior, but recently I’ve been feeling really connected to what I’m making in the kitchen, which is all you can ever really ask for when you’re creating. I also started to cleanse out some of the people I follow on Instagram. I highly recommend you do this if someone is making you upset when they come up on your feed. I’ve held back from unfollowing some people because I had met them in real life, but some people are truly destructive on the internet, and they don’t deserve our support.

Anyway, thank you for bearing with me during this year where I’ve chronicled my ups and downs are here when it comes to the internet, and just know, for every day I get frustrated with what social media entails, I am also reminded how amazing it is to have built this community, and I can’t really imagine a world without it. I get a rush of affection every time someone makes one of my recipes or tells me that they finally used that Greek yogurt they had sitting in their fridge or that they like kale now because they started massaging it. All I want out of this career is to inspire people, and make them happy, and enhance their life in some way. Knowing that happens feels enough for me — more than enough. I feel very lucky.

Lol ok this sounded so much cheesier than I meant it, but oh well. LOVE UUUU.

RECIPE!

I love Kale Caesars (even more than regular Caesar), and this one has little additions to each component that make it feel just a tad bit elevated. One thing to note (before people come at me that this isn’t a true Caesar) is that this isn’t a “true” Caesar. I didn’t use raw egg, but I did keep the anchovies hehe. Think of it as a faux Caesar with a very similar taste.

In case you’re wondering what to do with the charred lemon, you can squeeze it all over your salad before eating!! Charring the lemon helps loosen up the juice, and it gives it a slightly smoky flavor.

Roasted Garlic Kale Caesar with Spicy Breadcrumbs and Charred Lemon

Ingredients (serves 2-4)

Salad

• 2 bunches of kale, stems removed and roughly chopped

• 1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs

• 1 tsp aleppo pepper (or crushed red pepper)

• 2 small lemons

• 1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

Caesar Dressing

• 1 head garlic, excess paper removed

• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard

• 1 1/2 tbsp mayo (I like avocado oil mayo)

• 2 anchovy fillets

• Juice of 1 1/2 (small to medium) lemons

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• Salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut the top of the garlic head so the cloves are exposed by 1/4 inch, and drizzle on some olive oil. Wrap in foil, and bake for 50 minutes.

2. Add kale leaves to a large bowl. Drizzle on a little bit of olive oil and add a sprinkle of salt. Massage with your hands so the kale leaves become soft. Set aside.

3. In a large pan, heat up a drizzle of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the breadcrumbs and the aleppo pepper, and toast for a minute or two until golden brown, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Remove from the pan and set aside. In the same pan, heat up a drizzle of olive oil. Cut 2 lemons in half, and place the lemons flesh side down. Cook for 2-3 minutes until lemons are just charred. Set aside.

4. When garlic is done roasting, let cool. Then squeeze the cloves out into a blender, and add the Dijon mustard, mayo, anchovies, and lemon juice. Blend until smooth. Mix in the olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pour over your bowl of kale, and toss. Add the breadcrumbs and toss again. Top with shaved parmesan and the charred lemon.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

Look, this pasta may not be on the cutting edge of new and innovative recipes, but it sure hits right. Paid subscribers received this Spicy Creamy Shallot Pasta recipe last week that combines a bunch of classics to make this comforting dish.

Spicy "Creamy" Shallot Pasta

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