John and I had guests over the weekend. Part of my upbringing says that you have to feed people to death to make them feel welcome. I baked some amazing Pumpkin Donut Muffins and a Sausage and Egg casserole (which will be featured in a future post) for breakfast. In the afternoon, we attended an Octoberfest celebration, and had a couple German beers. For dinner, it was steak filets, with my Potato Packets, and Fancy Pants Green Beans, a loaf of french bread and a couple glasses of wine.
We said goodbye to our friends on Sunday morning, and after all the food and beverages we had enjoyed, John and I grabbed our bikes and headed out for a ride. We love starting out at a trail close to a local farmers market. When we finish riding, we can grab some produce for the week. I found some beautiful carrots and some kale among other veggies.
I intended to lighten up our meals for the week, and even though we are pretty health conscious, we have never tried kale. There are so many ways to prepare it, but I really wanted to prepare it raw in a salad, and decided on a recipe from Chef Meg on the website Sparkrecipes.com called Massaged Kale Salad.
This Salad appealed to me because of the simple ingredients, and not one grain of salt. I also liked the idea of tenderizing it with a gentle massage of the vinaigrette. I started by removing the thick stems and tearing the kale into bite size pieces. I rinsed it several times and spun the leaves dry in my salad spinner.
I prepared a Garlic Dijon Vinaigrette, also developed by Chef Meg, by putting 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 lemon juiced and zested (about 1/4 cup), 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, and 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil into a small food processor. Run until the ingredients are combined and emulsified.
Place the kale into a large bowl, and add 4 tablespoons of the Garlic Dijon Vinaigrette, the zest and juice of 1 lemon, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Massage the ingredients into the kale for 5 minutes.
Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Prior to serving, I plated my kale and added thinly sliced carrots, grape tomatoes, and some honey roasted slivered almonds. The almonds added just enough sweet and salt for me. You could add any combination of nuts, vegetables, boiled egg, dried fruit, cheeses or protein. It’s so versatile.
I ate this salad for lunch with a side of fruit and was in yummy land. I had a great lunch that did the body good!
Recipe shared with *Make Ahead Meals For Busy Moms: Melt in Your Mouth Monday *New Mrs Adventures: Tasty Tuesday’s *Buns In My Oven: What’s Cookin’ Wednesday *The Novice Gardener: Fiesta Friday *NewMrs Adventures: Flashback Friday
Stephanie
Monday 13th of October 2014
Looks delicious!! Thank you so much for linking up at Tasty Tuesday! Your recipe has been pinned to the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest board! Please join us again this week!
Hilda
Sunday 12th of October 2014
I was taught to pick the kale after the first frost, but it sounds like this massage method would be particularly good for the pre-frost kale. Thanks for the tip.
Lori
Saturday 11th of October 2014
Love the sound of this dressing Julie!
HostessAtHeart
Sunday 12th of October 2014
Thanks Lori. It is nice and light. Something to counter act those cookies you made! :)
Arl's World
Saturday 11th of October 2014
This sounds perfect and looks so pretty! Thanks for sharing!
spiceinthecity
Saturday 11th of October 2014
The name of this salad totally intrigues me Julie, massaged kale!! It looks delicious too :)
HostessAtHeart
Saturday 11th of October 2014
I didn't make that up, but it did tenderize the kale.