Go to the Recipe: Our Favorite Simple Kale Salad
Thanks for the inspiration. I love this idea for a simple, yet elegant weeknight meal. I often find myself in a rut of cooking a lot of the same things (e.g. pasta) on busy weeknights having to juggle three kids' schedules. I appreciate this series of recipe ideas.
This is fu*king delicious!!!! I am a sucker for a bomb kale salad.... Simple and absolutely delicious!!! I LOVE ChefSteps. Thanks for helping up my kitchen game x10!
Looking forward to trying this! I often hear that kale needs to be massaged with some sort of acid to become nice to eat. Is there any truth to this?
Is there a particular variety of kale, the local market I use has curly kale, a more leafy variety and a red kale. It like you doesn't matter but I thought there might be a preference for taste and texture.
I feel like such a dork saying this, but if you 'massage' the kale, like get in there and break up the fiber by squishing it in the bowl with your hands for five minutes, you don't need to cut into strips. You can cut it anyway you want, or just tear it into bits, no knife needed. It works really well and takes some of the bitterness away. Just another option!
Reminds of the Il Corvo kale salad! Delicious!!!
Haven't enjoyed kale in the past but this made me a convert ... and as suggested is so perfect with yam purée and crispy thicken thigh.
I love this salad. Sadly, I needed to remove the raisins for dietary reasons. Still yummy, but it's definitely missing something -sigh-
what about other dried fruit? Like cranberries or apricots
I'm adding some roasted red pepper strips and black beans. I'm then going to sear some scallops. Mmmmmm. Lol
I wonder if there's anything i can use to replace the pine nuts i have a nut alergy so pine nuts wouldnt be good for me hmmmmm?
I think a good substitute would be sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.. I hope that helps!
When I first discovered chefsteps there was a post where you had three columns- proteins, purees, salads and said to mix and match. Does anyone know where this list is? I can’t find it.
For some reason, I can only seem to find raw kale in very tine leafs. Do you think I could use cavolo nero instead?
Add some anchovies to the olive oil/lemon dressing and raw sliced Brussels sprouts and omg.....it’s soooooo good!! I call it the Green Caesar salad 💖
Oh and I also substituted the pine nuts with pumpkin seeds!
1X is a LOT of salad!
Marcela inspired me to do a Kale Ceasar Salad. Home made dressing, fresh grated Parmesan and toasted pine nuts. Very good.
@Jordan Heller alas, same dietary restrictions
I blanch the kale, then squeeze out the water and form a tight ball. That slices very well into very thin strips.
Sounds very lovely, and Sophisticated at the same time.
I shall be making this in the near future. Keep up the fantastic job on this site.
Cavolo nero is an excellent substitute! I love it even more than regular kale :-)
Cavolo nero is kale, only that said in italian. Better still plant it at home, even in a vase. It lasts years and leaf supply is very abundant
Soak your raisins overnight or longer in a nice white wine to plump them. Great in any salad!
This is a delicious recipe.
Massaging the raw strips with the lemon, breaks down the fibers a bit, and gives it such a nice bite, vs blanching
Great salad
well this is not correct: kale = "cavolo riccio" (curly kale, literally, less cultivated), cavolo nero is another, yet similar, plant. You can use either of them but cavolo nero is maybe a little bitter and has harder leaves than cavolo riccio (kale), so typically requires at least a little blanching
Love it, but it’s better if you put this into the fridge overnight. Breaks down the kale a bit.
Great recipe!
they are all a part of the cabbage family ("cavolo" in italian) and there are many varieties. you can eat both the green curly kale and the black kale raw no extra steps required
is it the fruit/sugar? you need something sweet and chewy to replace. if not fruit how about some semi-dried sweet veggies for the texture?
Love this salad! I recommend soaking your golden raisins in Champagne Vinegar before serving. Really adds that gentle, vinegary punch to contrast with the kale.
A shallot, very finely diced, then picked in the lemon juice that you are going to add, brings a balancing savoury note to this salad.
grated carrots add a nice splash of color!
Mmm delicious.
how long does it keep? can I prepare it several hours in advance?
