Poblano + Cojita Caesar

Jordan loves Caesar salads, & now I love Caesar salads. When we first moved to WA I made this Mexican style Caesar, could’ve sworn I saved the recipe, turns out I didn’t, and took it upon myself this Cinco de Mayo to make another Cinco-Caesar that would be a recipe worth keeping on hand. I intended to do a little recipe recreation, but really all I could remember is that there were sweet potato tortilla chips crumpled on top + Cojita cheese all over. So I started there, and then a Poblano + Cojita Caesar came to fruition. And damn was it good! And damn was it a perfect side salad for Cinco de Mayo taco night. Crunchy greens, salty cheese, creamy dressing, and some fun toppings - this bad boy has got it all.

All about the Mexi infusions

Cojita + poblanos went very far in my recipe to make it feel appropriate as a taco night side salad.

It’s very much along the lines of a traditional Caesar. Like hello mayo based dressing with salty cheese. That’s honestly my favorite part of a Caesar salad. That creamy, salty dressing with cold and crisp salad. I made one simple swap - added in Cojita in place of parmesan, and there you go. Just as salty + totally perfect substitute.

Next - poblanos. They’re just that Southwest-y, spicy ingredient that was a fun add in. Prepping the poblanos is super simple and just a fun veggie element that tastes fun + festive. Not super spicy, but they add a pepper taste to the salad that’s earthy + smokey. We love it.

Go for the sweet potato tortilla chips

Literally so worth it. They add such a pretty color to the salad. That nice pop of orange looks pretty darn cute, and if I went with regular tortilla chips I’m worried the salad would be very beige. The bright green lettuce + vibrant tortilla chips is what makes it.

Grab all the add-ins

My recipe was pretty simple due to that fact that it was made as a side dish. The “something extra” for taco night. In it’s simplest form (which is what I made), it’s totally great. But you can 100% go crazy and add in so many fun things. My other fun element was a handful of sunflower seeds, and they were another awesome salty + crunchy component. You can totally add in pepitas instead, but in the spirit of using what I had on hand, sunflower seeds is where I landed. But you can 100% expand and make this an even bigger + even more loaded salad. Avocado or roasted red peppers or radishes (or all of it) would be so yummy loaded right in. Highly recommend playing with it and I’m looking forward to make it again with even more Mexi add-ins.

For the salad

• 2 poblanos

• 1-2 heads of romaine lettuce, washed, stems removed, and cut into bitesize pieces.

• 1/4 c. Cojita cheese, crumbled

• a few handful of sweet potato tortilla chips, cruncheed

• 2-3 tbsp sunflower seeds

For the dressing

• 1/2 c. mayo

• juice from 1 lime

• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 tbsp Dijon

• 2 tbsp crumbled Cojita cheese

• 2 tbsp EVOO

• Salt + pepper

Preheat your oven broiler. Place the poblanos on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for 10-12 minutes. You want the skins to be blackened + charred. When they are, remove the pan from the oven and wrap them in the foil (think like you’re creating a little envelope out of the foil). Let them in the foil for another 15-25 minutes. When that’s done, you can pull the stems right off and peel the skins off the peppers.

Meanwhile, make the dressing. Add all the ingredients for the dressing, including a small pinch of salt + pepper, to a mason jar and shake. You want to be pretty aggressive with the shaking to make sure your dressing is perfectly smooth and blended. Toss the dressing with the romaine in a large bowl - starting with about 1/4 cup of dressing and adding more until it’s dressed to how you like it.

Take your poblanos with the skins removed and dice them up. Toss with the lettuce and dressing. Transfer the greens to your salad serving tray.

To finish the salad, top it with the cheese, sunflower seeds, + crunched up tortilla chips.