Who knew....you don't have to cook kale? Not me, that's for sure. Had a great salad yesterday...

M

marilynfl

Moderator
twice, in fact. Recipe is in my YogaJournal magazine and I will correct the amounts tonight, but here's the concept:

Fresh kale is sprinkled with walnut oil (I used EVOO) plus S&P and then massaged/squeezed with your hands to crush and soften it, turning it dark green. The step says it takes 5 minutes, but ours was fine in about a minute to 2 minutes. (The recipe called for a much larger amount.)

We used 1/4 of that big honkin' ready-sliced Bag-O-Kale (I think it may be a pound bag) with 1 Tbl of oil.

Diced red onions are blanched off-heat in 2 cups of boiling water with 2 Tbl of cider vinegar. Strain after 10 minutes and use as much as you want.

Recipe called for a lot of sliced shitake caps, but I used 8 oz of sliced portabellas because I had them and I don't have a trust fund for unbridled shitake purchases. Recipe added them raw; I sauteed first to exude the moisture.

Finish dressing with raspberry vinegar. I had none, so I used 1 Tbl of citrus vinegar and zested some lemon peel in.

Correct seasoning.

Happy, happy tastebuds enjoyed it with halibut baked with pesto, cheese & buttered crumbs. So much so that we made it again for dinner.

 
Emerald_Salad_with_Shiitakes_and_Red_Onion_Fresh_Kale_Salad
rom Yoga Journal Oct 2008 by Marcella Friel, kitchen manager for the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre, CA.

Makes 4-6 servings

1/2 C thinly-sliced red onions

1 TBL raw apple cider vinegar

2 C boiling water

1 large bunch kale, washed, stemmed and sliced into 1/2" strips

2 C thinly-sliced fresh shiitake mushroom caps

1/4 C toasted walnut oil

1 tsp salt (**watch this amount...I think it may be too much. Start with 1/4 tsp and work from there)

1/4 C raspberry vinegar

1. Soak onion in bowl with boiling water and cider vinegar for 10-15 minutes. Rinse and squeeze out excess moisture. Set aside.

2. Place kale and shiitake in large bowl. Drizzle oil and sprinkle with salt. Massage mixture with hands, kneading and squeezing until kale turns dark green and wilts slightly, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

3. Add onions and raspberry vinegar to salad and toss. Adjust taste and serve at room temp.

Chef adds diced persimmon and pomegranate when in season. The hand-written sign of ingredients near the salad photo shoot includes "fig balsamic" (is there such a thing?) and not raspberry vinegar.

(Mar's Notes: I used EVOO, plain old cider vinegar for the onion soaking, citrus vinegar for the dressing, bagged kale & sauteed portabello mushrooms because that's what I had. In other words, you don't have to follow this recipe exactly for it to work.
 
Last edited:
To be fair, the one you buy is different. The picture is of decorative kale, but it's edible if it

hasn't been treated with pesticides, etc. The link here is what is grown and for sale near me in the winter and probably what is in the bag. There is also a Tuscan or Black Kale that I've seen at Whole Foods, very expensive, but supposed to be really good.

http://www.moplants.com/blog/?p=1009

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top