Nutrition Recipe: Italian Herb Uncured Ham Caesar Salad

Salad – What most people think about when they think ‘diet’ or ‘nutrition’. Salads can be packed full of flavor, nutrition, and make it easy to prepare and assemble throughout the week. Jocelin Lamprey RD, LDN of Day by Day Nutrition, LLC includes meal prep as a part of her overall philosophy of health and wellness. Her perspective is that if you are stressed about not having time to prepare meals the day of every meal, and you potentially are not sleeping enough because of this, that is going to impact reaching your goals. If you take the time to prepare meals or ingredients ahead of time on a day when there is time, then that can improve the quality and amount of sleep, as well as reduce the anxiety felt each day to eat nutritious foods. This salad is a take on a caesar salad switching up the protein to ham, adding some vitamin C, and making a lower fat dressing which is quick and easy.

The salad ingredients can be prepared ahead and combined when it is time for lunch, dinner, or smaller portions for a nutritious snack. This makes getting to eating even easier, and no cooking of protein helps reduce the overall time required to prepare the salad as well.

The dressing is light and tangy and doesn’t require any blender or food processor. Just get a whisk or even a fork to combine the ingredients in a small bowl. This can be stored in the refrigerator to be used throughout the week. The most likely item to spoil in the dressing is the yogurt, so take note of the expiration or eat by date to get an idea of how long this dressing will last. A good sniff test is always solid too.

Italian Herb Uncured Ham Caesar Salad

-makes 6 servings as a main entree.

Ingredients

Salad:
3/4 lb. Farmers & Cooks Italian or Simple Uncured Ham (buy as a whole piece)

3 Hearts of Romaine
1/2 cup Caesar salad croutons
4 Clementines (Peeled and separated)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (freshly grated)

Dressing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup plain greek yogurt
2 fresh lemons (juiced)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves (minced)
2 tablespoons anchovy paste (if not available replace with 2 anchovies minced)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup parmesan cheese (freshly grated)
Salt and pepper to taste

Prep

1. Combine dressing ingredients and whisk together.
2. Cut ham into strip pieces.
3. Wash and chop romaine hearts.
4. In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients except for the cheese.

Assembly

1. Pour salad dressing over salad (stay conservative with your pour and toss to ensure you do not overdress the salad!) You want to still taste the ingredients while adding another layer of flavor and moisture to bring everything together.
2. Serve and grate the desired amount of cheese over each plate.

Tasting as you go is important to any cooking, but make sure you are tasting the salad dressing to ensure the right salt, pepper, and balance of flavors. Then when you are dressing the salad, add some dressing, toss, taste, and then add more dressing from there. You can always add dressing, but you can never take away, and with the flavors from the ham, clementines, and croutons, you want all the flavors to be bright and not muddled by too much dressing. Another option is to have the dressing out for guests to add more if you are on the conservative side. Make any alterations to this recipe which made it a slam dunk prep ahead dish at your house? Let us know on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!