Marinated Kale Salad
2012
Kale is the nutritional superstar of the vegetable world, claiming more nutrients than any other. So we all want to eat more of it for great health. But with such tough leaves many of us avoid it and opt or greens with softer leaves. Well, here is a recipe to help you handle those dark green leaves. This recipe shows you how to marinate the leaves with lemon and salt which will break down the tough fibers of its leaves making it easier, and making it more delicious to eat.
This salad is bursting with nutrition and also has kalamata olives with their abundant EFA’s, and cilantro, a powerful herb known to remove heavy metals from the body. However, the recipe is very flexible and once you have the leaves softened you can add a variety of your favorite ingredients. Try it with chopped peppers, tomato and pine nuts, or grated carrots, hemp seeds and chopped walnuts, or even steamed quinoa or bulgur (cracked wheat) to make it like tabouli. Get creative with it!
Marinated Kale Salad
Ingredients
1 bunch Kale – destemmed and chopped
1Lemon – juiced
1 t Salt
½ bunch Cilantro – destemmed and chopped
1 Avocado – chopped
12 Kalamata Olives – rinsed, pitted and chopped
3 Tbsp Red Onion – chopped
1 Garlic clove – chopped
1 cup Almonds – chopped
Directions
Wash, de-stem and chop kale leaves. I put all the leaves into the food processor and did it in seconds, which is great for convenience. But I will admit that the salad is very nice, and perhaps even nicer when the leaves are finely chopped with a knife. However, if you chop them, chop them up quite small. After they are chopped, place the kale in a big bowl and sprinkle it with the juice from one lemon and a teaspoon of salt and then it’s time to get messy. With your hands massage the lemon and salt into the leaves of the kale. This will help to cover it well with the marinade and will assist in helping the leaves to absorb it and will take lots of time off of the marinating process.
After you massage the leaves let it sit in the bowl for an hour. If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, just stir to cover leaves well and let sit for an extra couple hours. I massaged my kale, washed my hands and then took the bowl outside, and my marinating kale and I spent an hour together lying out on the deck in the sun.
After an hour, or more, add the rest of ingredients and mix well. The salad is ready to eat. It keeps well in the fridge for a few days and usually tastes even better the next day.
Tips on ingredients:
- Almonds can be chopped from dry but are more nutritious if soaked first.
- As there is already salt in the salad, rinse the olives before pitting and chopping to remove excess brine and salt.
wash and destem the kale..
This is often how I cut cilantro: I toss the end root part, use all of the top leafy part and pick and keep the leafy parts of the middle section. There are usually just a few leafy sections and most gets tossed; it’s an easy way to destem cilantro quickly.
I cube the avocado like this, and then just spoon it out of its skin.
These are the ingredients I added to the marinated kale..
Finished. Ready to eat!
Enjoy!!
