Elizabeth Ingram's Quarantine Quitchen Kale Caesar Salad

This isn’t my recipe, but I wanted to post it here because it’s SPECTACULAR and I feel compelled to preserve it for future reference. (I sure as heck know I'm gonna want to revisit it time and time again.)

It was made up 100% on the fly by Elizabeth Ingram during an episode of Quarantine Quitchen on July 13, 2021. We just happened to have extra of one of the relatively specialized ingredients lying around (Bottarga), with no particular plans for finishing it off -- so we decided to procure the rest of the ingredients and make the salad ourselves.  Boy are we glad we did! This is, hands down, the Caesar salad that all Caesar salads wish they could be.

Combine the following things in a bowl and whisk together until they become salad dressing:

• 2 small Garlic Cloves, minced
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup grated* Manchego Cheese
• ¾ - 1 teaspoon Cumin
• ¾ - 1 teaspoon Aleppo Pepper
• ¾ - 1 teaspoon Smoked Sea Salt
• ¼ teaspoon Sumac
• 1.5 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 1/3-1/2 cup Olive Oil
• Bottarga, grated* (I probably used about 3/4" of it; 3-4 Tablespoons)

*I use a microplane for grating.

Toss the dressing with torn Lacinato (“Dinosaur”) Kale leaves, and prepare yourself for the yummy noises you are about to make while eating it.  Seriously.