Let's Talk about Kale

SK had a post recently about a new way she discovered to prepare kale: drizzled with olive oil and salt and baked. I admit, this makes some freaking delicious kale chips. If you've never had kale, or haven't liked it in the past, try it that way.

However, kale is equally as delicious (and undoubtedly better for you) when consumed raw and in salad form. I'm not saying this is the healthiest salad you'll ever eat, but it is damn good. And there are lots of nutrients! Win/win people. I'm also going to apologize for the lack of pictures. I am just so happy to make and eat this salad, I forget to take pictures, and then I remember while I'm spooning the last bits into my mouth for lunch at work, and think to myself: "Oh well, guess I'll have to make it again next week." You see the problem.

Key facts about preparing kale for salads:
1) After rinsing, strip the leafy part from the stalk and discard the stalk. You can either do this with a knife, or just rip it off with your fingers.
2) Marinating is key.I like to think of this as the vegetarian version of marinating salmon in such a way that cooks it (only without that pesky risk of food poisoning!) It doesn't take long though, so don't worry if you're hungry when preparing your kale salad. You can eat it as soon as you're ready.
3) Even if you neglect your kale for a while and it gets a little wilty, it'll still be awesome in salad form.
4) There are a ton of varieties of kale. I've been favoring the curly kale with purple stalk variety, but I think this would work with any type.

What follows are three different recipes that incorporate kale.



I'll start with a salad a classmate passed on to me (and which served as my introduction to raw kale consumption.)
1. Chop up the kale (one bunch) into bit size pieces. Drizzle olive oil (1-2 tablespoons, depending on the amount of kale) and the juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon. (I looooove lemon, so I usually go with a whole one.) Maybe add a little salt. Whisper loving words over the kale (key part of the original recipe) and set aside.
2. Make dressing: combine tahini, olive oil, honey, lemon juice. Maybe some garlic. (I like to add these ingredients to a jar and then shake to combine.) You may need to add a little water to make it more liquid-y.
3. Chop your other ingredients. These can include red bell peppers, red onions, orange or grapefruit slices, avocado. Chickpeas are also a nice addition.
4. Combine! Enjoy!

The second recipe started out it's life with no kale at all. However, the dressing was really similar to the one above (save for the honey.) The original can be found on smitten kitchen (butternut squash and chickpea salad), but with kale is as follows:
1. Chop up the kale (one bunch) into bit size pieces. Drizzle olive oil (1-2 tablespoons, depending on the amount of kale) and the juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon. (I looooove lemon, so I usually go with a whole one.) Maybe add a little salt. (Whispering is not a part of this recipe, but I might do it anyways.)
2. Peel and chop into cubes a medium butternut squash. Toss the cubes with some olive oil and garlic, and bake in the oven (at 425 F) for about 30 minutes, or until just starting to brown.
3. Chop 1/2 a red onion and some parsley or cilantro. Combine with a ~15 oz of chickpeas. Chickpeas are also a nice addition.
4. Make dressing. I loosely follow sk's proportions, with more lemon:
1 medium garlic clove, finely minced
Juice of one juicy lemon (or more)
3 tablespoons well-stirred tahini
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to taste
Add more water if it isn't liquid-y enough.
5. When the squash is done, add to the other veggies, and toss with the dressing. Enjoy!

Third salad option!
This is from 101Cookbooks, which is a really lovely vegetarian (and mostly whole grain-type) of food blog. Originally, it was a Roasted Delicata Squash Salad. Of course, I couldn't find Delicata squash, so I ended up using butternut instead.
1. Chop up the kale (one bunch) into bit size pieces. Drizzle olive oil (1-2 tablespoons, depending on the amount of kale) and the juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon. (I looooove lemon, so I usually go with a whole one.) (No salt needed here; or whispering, but every salad is improved with a little magic.)
2. Combine about 1/3 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup miso (I again recommend the jar method.) If you're making a larger recipe, just increase the amount of olive oil and miso proportionally.
3. Peel and chop into cubes a medium butternut squash. Cube 1/2 to 1 pound of potatoes (depends on the end quantity you want.) Toss the squash and potatoes with half of the miso oil mixture and bake in the oven (at 425 F) for about 30 minutes, or until just starting to brown.
4. Add lemon to miso oil mixture. Should be lemony and salty (and delicious.)
5. When the vegetables are roasted, toss with kale. Add slices of radishes (I found these amazing watermelon radishes that were milder than a normal radish (and super pretty)) and almonds or other toasted nut (pine nuts are also good). Enjoy!

You can see some commonalities between all of these recipes. Squash, tahini dressing, roasting vegetables to add to a salad mix, lemonlemonlemon. It made me realize the possibilities were endless. I've made this with roasted potatoes and roasted asparaus + tahini dressing, with pieces of clementines thrown in; with just an olive oil and lemon dressing + pinenuts and a little romano cheese; it's always divine.

And it makes really good leftovers as well. I generally will eat this cold for lunch, but I think it'd also be good warmed up.