In salads – Kale doesn’t need to be cooked to be enjoyed. In fact its best to not cook because you kill some of the very important nutrients. When preparing a kale salad shred or chop leaves as fine a possible. Kale can be pretty tough to chew.
Here is a great Kale salad recipe:
Raw kale salad with balsamic, pine nuts, and parmesan
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries, chopped (or whole golden raisins or currants)
- 1/3 cup pine nuts (can substitute slivered almonds)
- 1 pound fresh dinosaur kale, about 2-3 bunches, rinsed and patted dry
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, packed
Directions
1 Heat a small skilled on medium high heat. Spread the pine nuts in an even layer on the bottom of the pan, cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Then remove to a bowl to allow to cool. Hint when toasting nuts: do not take your eyes off of them! Nuts can go from browned to burned very quickly.
2 Use a sharp knife to cut out the tough midrib of each kale leaf, and discard or compost. Slice the leaves crosswise into thin, 1/4 inch wide, slices. The easiest way to do this is to work with a small bunch of leaves at a time, stack the leaves and roll them into a loose cigar shape. Then using a sharp knife, work from one end of the “cigar” to the other, slicing a 1/4 inch off from the end. Place the kale slices into a large bowl.
3 In a smaller bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, rice vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper. A half hour to an hour before serving, toss the kale together with the toasted pine nuts, the dried cranberries, and the dressing, allowing the kale to marinate a bit. Right before serving, stir in the grated Parmesan cheese.
