Kale Caesar may be past its fifteen minutes of fame, but it will never get tired in our house. It's in the weekly salad rotation--what we make when we "have to have a veggie" but don't know what. But if you're feeling like Kale Caesar needs a refresh, these new Pizza Crust Croutons are guaranteed to take it to a whole new level!
I have to admit, I didn't come up with this idea. When we were in LA in January, we did a quick brewery tour on our last night. After our last stop at El Segundo, we were really craving pizza, so when we found out that El Segundo had just opened a new pizza joint around the corner, Slice and Pint, we made a bee-line for it. We ordered a pepperoni pizza and, of course for balance, a Kale Caesar. But this wasn't any ol' kale caesar, when it arrived at the table, we took one bite of the croutons and knew we had landed on something magical.
It took us a minute, but realized that these were PIZZA. CRUST. CROUTONS. I mean, it seemed so obvious: have extra crust? Crouton it!
So we took the idea home with us a re-created it as soon as we could.
Using store-bought dough speeds up the process, but if you'd like to make your own, rock on! We simply roll out half the dough on a cookie sheet, rub with olive oil and sprinkle with spices. Bake it up, then cut into squares and place back in the warm-but-not-on oven for a few minutes to dry out. Mix up that Kale Caesar, drizzle on your favorite dressing and add those croutons on top!
I swear, once you try this, normal croutons just won't cut it anymore. These are just so tasty with their familiar pizza crust crunch and the savory spices.
And if you're wondering what to do with the rest of that dough... make a pizza to go with your salad. It may feel backwards, but that doesn't make it wrong!
Kale Caesar Salad with Pizza Crust Croutons
Ingredients
- 1/2 package of store-bought pizza dough
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 8-10 lacinato kale leaves
- 1 romaine heart
- 1/3 cup good creamy caesar dressing
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 475 F.
- Spread the dough out on a baking sheet to a 1/2 inch thick. Spread on the olive oil, then sprinkle with the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and onion powder. Bake in oven for about 12 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Remove from the oven and turn off the oven. Cut the pizza crust into small 1-inch squares. Place back in the oven to dry out while prepping the salad ingredients.
- Chop the kale and romaine leaves into small bite sized pieces. Toss in the caesar dressing, parmesan cheese and black pepper. Add the croutons in and toss again. Serve!
Leave a Reply