super caesar

a superfood caesar cuz health is wealth!

The only thing better than a Caesar is a Caesar made from ingredients that make you feel your best. If you’re a longtime What To Cook reader, you know that in 2020, I ghost wrote the recipes for a cookbook called Eat To Beat Depression and Anxiety. The author, Dr. Drew Ramsey, is a leader in the field of nutritional psychiatry, which incorporates evidence-based nutrition into psychiatry treatments. Put simply: nutritional psychiatry uses food to help support and improve people’s mental health.

By helping him write the recipes that illustrate this approach, I learned so much about why certain foods make us feel great.

Here are some of the nutritional shifts I’ve made in my own life to support my mental health (paraphrased from what I’ve learned from Drew — click here for more info!):

• I stopped drinking coffee. Reducing stimulants (AKA coffee) has honestly changed my life. I completely cut out coffee 2 1/2 years ago and now realize that I was operating with at least a low level of anxiety at all times after starting my day with 2 cups of it.

• I eat more fermented food. Adding fermented foods to your diet can transform the health of your microbiome, and there’s strong evidence suggesting a correlation between a healthy gut biome and improved mental health. To get my fermented foods in, I keep a jar of sauerkraut in the fridge and eat a couple spoonfuls a day, I add kimchi to meals when I can, I drink kombucha a few times a week, and I use kefir in smoothies.

• I make leafy greens a priority in my diet every single day. Especially dark leafy greens (like kale, Swiss chard, spinach), which are nutrient rich and fiber dense. They also help feed our gut biome, which makes our brains happier and healthier!

• I’ve made a point to eat more seafood, which contain the long chain omega-3 fats EPA and DHA. When we eat things like anchovies, salmon, and mussels, we are giving our brain those healthy fats, as well as minerals like selenium, zinc, and iodine, all of which are beneficial when it comes to reducing anxiety.

Working with Drew on that book changed the way that I think about my own daily diet — and how I develop recipes. I’ve used this knowledge to write three Good Mood Food weeklong meal plans that integrate the best ingredients for your gut and your mind.

Today’s recipe is a great example of how you can make a few small tweaks to dishes you already love to make them more gut and brain friendly. We’re fixing a really quick and simple salmon Caesar salad, but we’re making every single ingredient count.

This one meal will fuel your body and brain with:

• Fermented foods: We’re using sourdough for our crouton crumble and Greek yogurt as the base of our creamy Caesar dressing.

• Long chain omega-3 fats: Caesar salad is always a great option when you’re at a restaurant because the dressing is full of ANCHOVIES! Which are truly the ultimate brain food. So we’ve already got the anchovies, and we’re also adding salmon for even more omega 3s!

• Healthy fats and antioxidants: Extra-virgin olive oil is the easiest way to get in so many healthy fats and antioxidants that help fight anxiety and depression and keep your brain strong! I practically only cook with EVOO these days.

• Leafy greens: Use romaine, kale, or a combo of both for a super fiber-rich and nutrient-dense green base.

• Zinc/magnesium/fiber: Pepitas!!!! AKA pumpkin seeds, but they’re usually labeled pepitas at the store. They are packed with three of the most important brain nutrients and here we’re using them to make a delicious sourdough-pepita crumble crouton sitch! (P.S. Dark chocolate chips + roasted pepitas are one of my fave quick snacks.)

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super caesar

Serves 4

Cook time: ~1 hour

Tools:

• Sheet pan

• Parchment paper

• Chef’s knife

• Cutting board

• Food processor (see notes within recipe if you don’t have one)

• Salad spinner

• Microplane or box grater

• Meat thermometer

Ingredients:

• 2 large (or 3 small) heads of romaine

• 4 small slices sourdough bread (fresh or day old)

• 1/2 cup pepitas

• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 cup Greek yogurt

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (as always, I highly recommend buying a block of Parmigiano-Reggiano, then breaking it into hunks and blending it on medium speed until it’s powdery! 4 ounces — so about half of a 7-ounce block — will yield 1/2 cup grated)

• 6 anchovies (packed in oil, ideally)

• 2 garlic cloves

• 2 lemons (we only use 1 in the recipe but I’m adding another to the list in case you like your dressing extra zippy)

• 4 (6-ish ounce) salmon filets (skin on or off)

Preheat oven to 425°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Thinly slice 2 heads of romaine and set aside in a large bowl.

I get a lot of questions about when/how I wash greens. I wash them after I cut them, using a salad spinner. So I chop the greens, place them in the salad spinner, fill it with water, stir in a drop of veggie wash, and let them soak for 30 seconds or so. Then I drain them, rinse them, and spin them dry!

In a food processor, place 4 small torn-up slices of sourdough bread and pulse until the texture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add 1/2 cup pepitas. Pulse until roughly chopped. Place crumble on one half of the prepared sheet pan. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and a few grinds of pepper, and toss to coat. Don’t place in the oven yet!

No food processor? Just finely chop the bread and pepitas!

Wipe out the food processor (it doesn’t need to be perfect) and add 1 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 6 anchovies, 2 garlic cloves, the zest (use a microplane or the smallest hole on a box grater to grate it right into the food processor) and juice of 1 lemon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Process until smooth. Taste and add more lemon juice or salt as desired. Set aside.

No food processor? Use a blender, or just mash the anchovies with a fork as finely as you can, then stir everything together.

Place 4 salmon filets on the other half of your sheet pan. Smear the filets with just enough Caesar dressing to coat them lightly. Spread the filets at least 1 inch apart.

Roast for 12 to 15 minutes or until the salmon reaches 125°F internally for medium (my preferred!) or 145°F or more well done salmon (if you have really thick filets, they may need to cook a few extra minutes). If your crumble is getting really brown but your salmon isn’t done yet, cover the crumble with foil (or remove it from the sheet pan) to prevent it from burning.

Toss the romaine with your preferred amount of dressing and half of the crumble then add the remaining crumble and salmon on top. Top with more Parm and dig in!

super caesar

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• Prep ahead: Make your dressing up to a week ahead of time! If it gets thicker than you’d like in the fridge, just mix in a couple splashes of water to loosen it up. You can cook the crumble ahead of time too. Let it cool then store it in an air-tight container at room temp for up to 4 days (or up to a week in the fridge). Wait until just before dinner to chop, wash, and dress your greens and to cook the salmon.

• Cooking for 2/leftovers are a good thing: Leftover dressing will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week! It doesn’t freeze well, so halve it if you don’t want to eat another Caesar this week. Only dress as much lettuce as you want to eat in one meal — leftover dressed greens will get soggy in the fridge. I don’t love reheated salmon and wouldn’t recommend intentionally having leftovers of it, so I recommend buying only as much as your family will eat. But if you do wind up with leftover salmon, it’ll keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat it in the oven at 275°F for about 10 minutes, or until warmed through.

• Vegetarian: Instead of salmon, drain, rinse, and pat dry a can of chickpeas. Coat them with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a huge pinch of salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Roast them on the sheet pan alongside the crumble. The timing should work as is … you’re looking for them to be golden and crispy but not totally dried out. See the “substitutions” list for vegetarian anchovy subs.

• Add-in ideas: If you want to bulk up this meal even more, you could add hardboiled eggs or cheese tortellinis (trust me — it’s GOOD) to the salad. You could also serve the Caesar to the side of the salmon and add a grain like brown rice to your plate.

• Gluten-free: Use GF bread

• Dairy-free: Swap the Greek yogurt out for a plain DF yogurt or DF mayo. Skip the Parm and, if you have the ingredients on hand (cashews + nutritional yeast), make this vegan Parm to sprinkle on top.

• Romaine: Kale, green leaf lettuce, spring mix, spinach — I prefer a crunchy lettuce for Caesar but you can really use whatever you have.

• Sourdough: Any bread or breadcrumbs!

• Pepitas: Another nut or seed like sunflower seeds, pistachios, almonds, pecans, etc.

• EVOO: Olive oil or a neutral-tasting oil like grapeseed or avocado oil

• Garlic powder: Onion powder or garlic salt (but cut back on the kosher salt if using garlic salt)

• Greek yogurt: Regular plain yogurt or mayo

• Parm: Grana Padano or Pecorino Romano

• Anchovies: 2 tablespoons capers or Worcestershire sauce

• Garlic cloves: 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 (thawed) cubes frozen minced garlic

• Lemon: No sub for the zest, but use 3 tablespoons light-colored vinegar (like white or red wine vinegar) in place of the juice.

• Salmon: Any other fish you love. Peeled + deveined shrimp would also be great! They won’t need to roast as long, only 8-10 minutes. You could also use chicken tenders or breasts — bake tenders for about 10 minutes or breasts for 17 to 20 minutes (be sure that your crumble doesn’t burn! Take it out early if you need to!).

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Click here for the full index of What to Cook recipes categorized by protein, cook time, and mood.

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Editor + photographer: Molly Ramsey
Illustrations: Nhung Lê