New (to me) salad ingredients combo that was really good

C

CathyZ

Well-known member
Last evening I re-created (and added my own tweak of course) a salad I recently had. Here is the list of stuff in it- long but everything goes together so well:

Baby Kale

Baby Spinach

Red sweet Pepper

Roasted red and gold beets

Purple onion

Apples

Mandarin Oranges (I used canned)

Walnuts

A bit of candied Ginger

Bacon

Dried Cranberries

Sun dried Tomatoes

Feta

I drizzled a bit of an Oriental Sesame dressing over it but it really didn't even need dressing. My DH and I both raved over this one.

 
Sounds yummy and pretty! I just have not jumped over joy for kale. I try hard, but when push

comes to shove, I select a different green.

 
I know what you mean but using baby kale helps. It is just so good for us it is hard to ignore it.

 
Such a healthy salad, will have to try

since I have baby kale coming on. I'm with you barb, I've tried the kale in salads a couple times and it just isn't my thing. Hopefully the baby kale will do the trick, otherwise it's going to continue to be roasted kale and pot greens.

 
barb, have you used the "crush" method? We don't like kale "as is" but if you

work a"lemony" vingairette into it by crushing the torn leaves with your hands for a few minutes, it releases, heck, I don't know...something...the leaves turn much darker and become tender. Most recipes say to do this step and the two restaurants we order it at do this. Larry calls it the Italian Massage.

It seems to tenderize the leaves. We also prefer organic kale because the torn/ prebagged stuff has a very chemical smell to it. Plus, our local grocer either freezes it or else gets it frozen--the LAST time I used this (before switching to organic) the torn leaves collapsed into a bunch of mush when I was crushinig them. Never again, she cried...shaking her fist at Winn-Dixie.

And again, having a lemony dressing is key for me. Along with tasty add-ins, like artichokes, heart of palm, red quinoa, diced tomatoes, cucumbers and parmesan cheese.

 
I think if I want to massage food for a few minutes it would be bread dough.just can't get onboard

,yet, with the massaging kale thing. maybe I need to eat a really good kale salad prepared this way---by someone else.

 
I'm w/ you Ang.... Although I did not notice in the store if there was a distinction w/ baby kale

vs. adult kale.... : )
I will have to scope it out a bit......

 
Honest, try it one time. Doesn't have to be "baby" kale--just

take the rib out and slice it. Then with the dressing (as Marilyn suggested), just rub it between your palms/fingers. I use some plastic gloves, just for ease of cleaning my hands. It is positively a revelation in flavor and "good-ness"!!

 
Kale has been hard for me to get used to.. I am doing better...

Started with Lacinato Kale and that was tough. I have grown Red Russian Kale and like it. Easy to pull down the stem and the kale comes right off. I have not tried curly kale. I seem to stick with a quick saute, with fresh garlic, and either fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.

 
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