Saturday, November 13, 2010

Kale riff…


Last month one of the fine members of the small agent-based modeling discussion/support group brought the most delicious salad to our potluck. (As an aside, I would highly recommend pairing serious methodology discussions with good food!) She said that it came from the Food Network show Aarti Party, and I’ve just found the recipe online. It is a salad featuring uncooked kale that is delicious. That’s right, a salad featuring uncooked kale… that is delicious… The combination of lemon juice, sunflower seeds (which my friend had substituted for the pepitas), mango, and kale was delicious. Motivated by this, I got a bunch of kale at the farmers’ market last week. I had every intention of purchasing a mango to go with it, but never made it to the grocery store. Instead, I decided to make a decidedly more Midwestern, but nonetheless delicious, riff on the salad. I also hadn’t found the recipe online when I made it, so mine leaves out what might be some additional delicious ingredients, so be sure to check out the original recipe as well. Here it is:

Fall Kale Salad
For 1 large serving or 2 small servings

4-5 leaves curly kale, chopped finely
1/2 tart crunchy apple (Ida Reds work beautifully), chopped to 1/2 inch cubes
sprinkling of pepitas (roasted pumpkin seeds)
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

To make it look pretty, put the chopped kale and apples into a bowl and mix. Sprinkle with pepitas and juice the lemon over the bowl. Top with salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy.

3 comments:

  1. I am a big fan of kale but have never used it uncooked. I will give this a try!

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  2. Interesting. I thought that you had to massage your kale if you were going to serve it raw - even when "cooking" it seviche style...

    Comment background info:
    http://mixedgreensblog.com/2008/10/13/local-living/farmers-markets/massage-your-kale/

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche

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  3. So the original recipe (posted by Aarti) included directions to massage the kale. I didn't have this information when I improvised my version, so there was no massage involved. I also don't think I let it sit long enough to cook like ceviche... It was still delicious, and I can't find anything documenting any risk to simply eating raw kale. I thought it was tasty. :)

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