Thnx Pinterest

I’m trying to figure out if I’m more addicted to Pinterest or this salad.  It is excellent as a side but is also filling enough to be eaten as a whole meal.  If you haven’t tried cooking with kale yet, this is a great way to start (I have a few more kale recipes that I’ve found on Pinterest) – but this one is the BEST and also pretty easy!

Inspiration

This amazing salad came via my Pinterest Yumm Board from Offally Tasty

Photo & amazing recipe courtesy of Offally Tasty

Loved

• I’ve had other kale salads that are similar, but this is by far my favorite.  One of the ideas that I love from the inspiration salad is adding nuts & cranberries.  I typically use almonds and cranberries although I have also used raisins.  Sunflower seeds are also a great addition for a bit more texture.
• There are rarely left overs, but when there are it saves wonderfully in the fridge overnight.  I now typically make a double batch so that I can enjoy two days in a row.
• Works with a variety of kale.  Dinosaur kale (aka lacinato kale) is what I typically use , however most recently I used a combination of dinosaur and green curly kale.
• Simple ingredients.  The complete recipe and instructions can be found here.
  • 1 or 2 heads of  kale
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 lemons
  • 1 TBSP  Dijon mustard
  • 2 -3 garlic cloves (or a heaping TBSP of garlic paste)
  • 4 anchovies
  • hard cheese (I used a parmesan)
  • almonds
  • cranberries (or raisins)

Learned

• Preparing kale is key to enjoying kale.  This is the most time consuming part but and is recommended to be done ahead of time.  I typically do it the day before.  Here is my preferred approach to cleaning & cutting the kale:
  1. cut the middle stems out
  2. pile the kale flat and slice it into thin slices (cutting at a 90º angle from where the stem was)
  3. put the thin pieces of kale in a salad spinner (or large bowl)
  4. cover with cold water
  5. let sit for up to an hour to let all of the dirt fall to the bottom
  6. lift out the salad spinner & kale (or lift the kale out of the bowl)
  7. empty the water
  8. spin the kale dry (I typically leave mine in the fridge overnight or all day to get it nice and dry)
• Cooking with anchovies. I’ll be honest, until this salad I had never used anchovies, they kind of scared me. Turns out they aren’t that bad and add a lot of flavor. Here are a few things I learned about anchovies:
  • It is best to use real anchovies vs. anchovy paste. If you only have paste available I would recommend starting with a heaping tablespoon, taste and add more if necessary.
  • 1 anchovy fillet = 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste
  • Kalamata olives can also be substituted. I used about 1/4 cup whole and then chopped them in my mini food processor
• Lemon Juice.  Not all lemon juice is created equally; my favorite is Whole Foods 365 Organic Lemon Juice.  If you use too much lemon juice (especially if it is very tart) it will affect the flavor of the dressing.  Thus, if you use lemon juice vs. real lemons I recommend starting with 2 TBSP, tasting and adding more if necessary.
• You can never have too much cheese.  I try to keep a nice hard cheese in the fridge at all times specifically for this salad (I did say that I was obsessed), but on a few occasions I ran out and used crumbled feta or crumbled goat cheese.  As with most things the more cheese the better!

Thnx

• Thank  you,  thank you, thank you Cali from @Offallytasty for this amazing recipe and awesome food blog.  You should definitely check it out http://offallytasty.com/
• As always, Thanks Pinterest for all the inspiring ideas. Not on Pinterest? Send me an e-mail thnxpinterest at hotmail dot com and I’ll send you an invite (if you sign up for an invite on the site it will take a while).

If you liked this post, check out:

Yumm