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Keep it simple!
Salads are the ultimate customizable food, right? This version of a simple kale salad is truly a pantry-pull of ingredients I had on-hand! This recipe has enormous versatility, and you should try different ingredients each time until you find your perfect combination.
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Massage the kale?!?
Yes, you need to massage your kale! Kale is a sturdy green, and can be a bit fibrous and tough if you don’t help it along a bit. A quick massage will soften it up and makei t much more yummy!
How to massage your kale:
- Place your chopped or torn kale in a large bowl
- You MAY drizzle a tiny bit of oil or lemon juice before massaging – but it’s not necessary
- Open your hand wide and grab the largest handful of kale you can, and give it a tight squeeze, then toss it back in the bowl!
- Repeat this for a minute or so – you will see the kale darken in color a bit and it will soften up.
- That’s it!
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Toss in your favorite salad ingredients
For our simple kale salad, we are using carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, raising and sunflower seeds!
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How do you choose your ingredients?
Honestly? Trial and error. What’s the worst that can happen?
Kale is very hearty and has an earthy, grassy, almost bitter (in a good way) taste. Any time you have a predominant type of flavors, it’s a good bet you will be happiest if you BALANCE that with other types of flavors. In my salads I try to cover these bases:
- Earthy/Green: This is usually covered by the greens you are using. In this case, Kale more than fits the bill.
- Sweet: Raisins, cranberries, blueberries, tomatoes
- Crisp: Fresh veggies that hold a crunch. Cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, radishes, jicama,
- Salty: Seeds/nuts give a good kick of salt – this is also usually covered by a good vinaigrette
- Other texture: I love sprouts in a salad! They have a great nutty quality and they give a pop of texture that’s unique from the other ingredients
Pick 1 or 2 ingredients from each category, and your simple kale salad will be a success.
What about dressing?
Your dressing can actually fall into one of the categories as well. Some dressings are sweet, some acidic, salty, etc. I find that the best option for a simple kale salad is a vinegar-based dressing. Making your own vinaigrette is only a matter of tossing a few things in a jar and shaking! The red wine and mustard in our dressing make a perfect contrast to the other notes we’ve got going on in our simple kale salad.
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