Kale!

Trying to be ever helpful, I hope you realize that by just reading the title of this post, your "health index" went up several points.  That's how healthy KALE is...you don't even have to actually consume it (though the ol' "health-ometer" jumps dramatically if you do)!

I realize it's the latest health fad (now that "gluten free" is on the decline) and everyone is just running on (and on...) about how fabulous their latest batch of kale chips are and how much better for you than potato chips (they had better be because...don't hate me...they're not very good.  Apparently they are just good-for-you, not actually good.)

Of course you can always just slice it up and toss it into some soup (it's a lot like spinach) or my other usual "kale thing" - sauté it up with some bacon (I'm hoping the loss of "health points" due to bacon is completely offset by the goodness of kale.  I would imagine it would be too much to ask for the scale to tip even slightly towards the "good" side?)

Until now I haven't been much of a "let's throw some kale into a salad bowl" kind of gal.  I generally find kale, particularly the curly green kind, to be....too crunchy?  Too crisp?  Not very palatable.

I know there are tricks - naturally you need to "strip" the kale (removing the tough center stalk) and some people say I should try "massaging" my kale.  (Is it me or is this vegetable starting to sound a little creepy?  Stripping and massaging?  A bit x-rated!)

But a trick I've come across that seems to work best is when using kale in a salad, dress the salad in advance.  This is not something I would typically do with a lettuce salad - you want to dress that baby immediately before consuming.  But kale seems to benefit by "pre-dressing" and using a fairly acidic dressing (like lemon juice) helps tremendously. 

Here's a recipe I came across in our Sunday paper insert (from relish.com):

Kale Salad with Apples and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

Salad:

2 bunches kale, washed, dried and stemmed

2 honeycrisp apples

1 medium red onion, very thinly sliced

1 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), toasted

 

Sweet-Sour Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon coarse-grain Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons honey or brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup grapeseed oil (or other neutral oil)

 

Instructions

1. To prepare vinaigrette, place lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and black pepper in a food processor fitted with the swivel blade. Begin processing, slowly pouring in oil.
2. To prepare salad, place kale leaves in stacks, and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch ribbons. Cut ribbons into bite-sized pieces.
3. Place kale, apples, onion and toasted pumpkin seeds in a large bowl. Pour in about half the dressing and toss gently. Serves 10.

Terri's changes:

• Didn't have any red onion...just didn't put any in at all (we're not big raw onions fans around here).
• For dressing, used olive oil, regular Dijon, and Agave (rather than honey or brown sugar)
• Dressed 1/2 hour before serving (used more dressing that I probably would have for a lettuce salad because I wanted to make sure that both the kale (to "relax" it) and the apples (to avoid "browning") were sufficient coated.
• I could have hauled out the huge food processor but I made the dressing even healthier but incorporating some physical exercise into the process (and used a whisk).

I'm laughing right now because I only had one bunch of kale from my produce box so I made just half a batch (besides there was only the hubby and me) and I see now that it should have made enough to serve 5.  After I took some for me (a rather large portion because the entrée that night was pizza and I was trying to forego a second slice), Gerry FINISHED OFF the remainder.  It was that good!!!!

~later, reaping the benefits of healthy living...for once, tw

(PS - I hope you realize that by merely reading this post, your "health-ometer" has gone up 15 points - the number of times the word "kale" appeared here!!!  You're welcome, tw!)