INGREDIENTS
1 head butter lettuce, washed and torn
1 apple, peeled and thinly sliced
1 avocado or 1/2 c crumbled goat cheese
Candy Nuts
Shallot Vinaigrette
DIRECTIONS
Add the butter lettuce to a large salad bowl. Top with apple and avocado or goat cheese (or both). Toss with vinaigrette and garnish generously with candy nuts.
This is adapted Tom Douglas’ BIg Dinners book. He’s a big restaurant guy in Seattle (has about 15 restaurants now) who knows food and doesn’t hold back. This is a delicious dressing that he uses for arugula, radicchio, and maple molasses pecans. It’s also nice on sweet butter lettuce.
INGREDIENTS
1 T minced shallot
4 T sherry or white wine vinegar
1 T honey or raw honey
1 T dijon mustard
1/2 c olive oil
DIRECTIONS
Stir together the shallots, vinegar, honey and mustard until smooth. Whisk in the olive oil. This makes enough for 2 large salads, so I keep the extra in a jar in the fridge.
Just when I thought I had found the best kale salad, I tried Tessa’s. Lemony and slightly sweet, it brightened my day. Toss it with toasted almonds, and a generous amount of parmesan cheese.
INGREDIENTS
1 bunch kale, any kind, the fresher the better
1/2 t sea salt
2 T lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 T honey
1/2 t dijon mustard
4 T olive oil
toasted almonds
parmesan cheese
Wash the kale, remove the stems, and chop into small pieces. Sprinkle with sea salt and massage the kale with your hands. Combine the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake intensely until blended. Toss with the kale, almonds, and parmesan cheese.
For Mom and Dad’s 70th birthday dinner, we had ribs and this kale salad. The ribs were great, but we were literally elbowing each other out of the way for the kale leftovers the next day. Something about the salty cotija cheese mixed with the toasted pine nuts makes this crave-worthy.
INGREDIENTS
1 bunch kale
8 oz cotija cheese, or feta, crumbled
1/4 c pine nuts, lightly toasted
olive oil
Wash and stem the kale. Chop in small pieces, or whirl it in a food processor to very fine ribbons. Toss with cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil to taste.
This is good on everything. It’s adapted from Lynn who brought it to dress her beautiful spinach salad on Christmas Eve in Steamboat.
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1T agave or coconut palm sugar
1 t salt
1/2 ground pepper
1 T sesame oil
1/2 cup olive or other oil (grapeseed, canola, safflower)
Whisk together the first 5 ingredients, then drizzle in the oil while while whisking.
You can also shake the first 5 ingredients in a jar, then drizzle in the oil and shake everything together until emulsified.
Thanks to Carmen Cordovez for the beautiful photo.
(This recipe was inspired by Lynn’s Christmas Eve salad in Steamboat.)
Fill a salad bowl with salad greens or fresh spinach.
Add generous amounts of any or all of the following:
Diced avocado (rinse with water to prevent discoloration)
Feta or Goat cheese
Dried cranberries or cherries
Fresh apples, pears, strawberries or pomegranate
A basket of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Sliced red onion
Toasted (sweetened) pecans, almonds, or walnuts
Toss with Sweet Sesame Salad Dressing.
This recipe comes from mom, who poured it on a salad with grilled chicken, hard boiled eggs, and tomatoes. It makes enough to store in the fridge and dress several salads.
Whirl together in a food processor:
1/3 cup wine vinegar
2 T agave (more or less to taste)
2 T honey (optional, if you like it sweeter)
1/4 cup sesame seeds, lightly toasted
2 T poppy seeds
2 T finely chopped onion or shallots
1 t Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1/2 t paprika
1 t salt
Slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup oil (grapeseed, canola, olive).
Leo named our maple toasted pecans “candy nuts.” I toss these nuts into all our salads….just one step ahead of Leo who is tossing them in his mouth as fast as they cool.
You can use pecans (halved or pieces, toasted or raw), slivered almonds, or walnuts.
Fill a sauté pan with nuts.
Toast them a little over low to medium heat.
Pour maple syrup over them and let them gently boil until thick.
While they cook, butter or oil a silpat mat or a piece of foil.
Turn the nuts onto the buttered surface and let them cool.
Try to keep them away from the kids so you have some for the next day.
These nuts are also really good on the banana cream pie.
We, meaning Amy and I, love this kale salad, as do most of the other grown-ups we make it for. I haven’t met any kids who like it. I read alot about kids who love raw kale salads, but haven’t met them yet, or maybe I just haven’t made the right salad.
Thanks again to mom, for introducing this salad to us.
1 bunch kale, stems removed, and chopped into small pieces
1/2 t sea salt
1/2 c candy nuts or toasted walnuts
1/4 c finely chopped onion
1/3 c currants, dried cranberries or dried cherries
1 granny smith or other apple, peeled and diced
1/3 c feta or gorgonzola, crumbled (optional)
Sprinkle salt on the kale and massage the kale with your hands until it’s tender (about a minute). Add the next 5 ingredients and dress with Sweet Sesame Dressing.
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