Craggy Chicken Caesar

Yesterday, I did something I have been meaning to do forever: I pulled up one of the dozens and dozens of recipes in my instagram’s “saved” file to figure out what to make for dinner. In spite of my hot-and-cold relationship with the platform, I still check in with it every day, multiple times a day — the culinary creativity out there is addictively inspiring, not to mention dog videos and Lionel Messi reels are suddenly a non-negotiable part of my daily mental health routine. My instagram crushes are constantly changing, but these days, I can’t get enough of Justine Doiron, the chatty, approachable home cook (how good does this one-pan fish dish look?) and plant-based wunderkind Pierce Abernathy, who regularly elicits the reaction I would’ve never thought you could turn that [insert obscure vegetable] into dinner. Others: The Hamptons-based private chef, Rob Li, who walks us through days cooking for his extremely lucky (and extremely wealthy) client; Julius Roberts is still churning out the farm-freshiest comfort food directly from his farm in the English countryside; and lastly, there is Arash Hashemi. I have no idea how I started following him, but in his quest to make everything low-carb (I guess he recently lost 100 pounds) he is constantly dreaming up new and interesting mash-ups of classics. One of those, his Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza, where ground chicken stands in for the crust, has been calling me from my saved file for weeks, so that’s what I decided to make last night.

Except! I was envisioning the recipe less like an oregano-forward pizza and more like a Chicken Caesar Salad meets Chicken Milanese, with a massive pile of dressed shredded Romaine on top of craggy-edged, spiced smashed chicken patties — Phoebe called the end result “rich man’s chicken nuggets” — and I have to say, it was kinda great. Here’s how I made the dinner my own.

Craggy Chicken Caesar
Inspired by Arash Hashemi. Makes 2 generous portions (can be doubled)

Caesar dressing (here or my recipe on page 204 The Weekday Vegetarians)
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon dried mustard
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
vegetable oil
2 hearts romaine lettuce, finely shredded
1/2 small red onion, minced finely
baguette or crusty bread or garlic bread

Make your dressing if you haven’t already. Using a fork mix together the ground chicken, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, dried mustard, salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl.

Add about 1 or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil to a cast iron skillet set over medium-high heat. Using slightly wet hands, shape the chicken mixture into four very flat patties, smashing with the bottom of a drinking glass in the pan if necessary. Fry the patties (in batches and adding more oil if necessary) for 2 to 3 minutes a side, until crispy and craggy on the edges. Remove to a platter.

In a salad bowl, toss the romaine lettuce and red onion with the Caesar dressing. Serve patties piled high with romaine and bread on a serving platter or on individual plates.