I love kale. It is delicious, versatile and it just feels virtuous to eat. It is essentially a perfect food. I have been fortunate as of late to be traveling through the country just in the nick of time for it to be kale season wherever I have been. Phoenix, Eugene, Petaluma, Miami and most recently Denver. I was visiting my dear friends Corinna and Will last week who have an amazing and prolific garden that produces an unnerving amount of kale, the most beautiful heirloom tomatoes I have seen and some pretty incredible onions among other things. On a day when I was in charge of dinner and frankly just inspired by this bounty in general, I made what might be my favorite salad to date. I was so inspired at the time that I did not have the wherewithal to document this momentous occasion the first go round but here it is in living color in my starkly white but thankfully temporary kitchen in Miami (we move into a big beautiful place with a fantastic kitchen in 5 days and counting!).
This is dinosaur kale but it comes in many varieties and colors, all equally tasty and beautiful but should always be organic for they use tons o pesticides on kale.
Have not yet mastered the art of chopping and taking a photo...baby steps.
Under normal circumstances the zest here would have been made with a microplane, but as we are relocating to Miami my beloved tool is on a moving truck somewhere in the middle of Texas. Although this is a tool that no cook should live without, the fine side of a box grater will do in an emergency!
HUGE beautiful green avocado, so prevalent here in Miami, a few brown spots but this is the real deal here, nothing is perfect, but perfect at the same time.
At first the kale was up to the top of the bowl. After tossing in the lemon juice, olive oil and salt and letting it sit for an hour the kale begins to tenderize and absorb the flavors...yummy!
I am no food stylist, yet anyway. But how dee-lish does this look up close! I even threw in some home cooked garbanzo beans for some added kick to make it a meal...a perfect meal.
For the recipe for this incredible Kale Salad click here.
yum! this salad lookd devine!!! I think tom forgot to plant the tuscan kale, I will need to buy some to make this!
thank you for your crwativity and passion for beautiful food!!!
Looks fantastic! Farmer’s Market tomorrow & then having it for dinner. Thank you…..;)
Made this a couple days ago for my husband who, despite being a professional endurance athlete and coach, hates to eat anything green or remotely healthy looking. He LOVED it and requested I make it again tonight for a party we’re going to. (will give you oodles of credit, of course!) I used an amazing EVOO from Robbins Family Farm in SLO, switched it to a red onion, toasted Marcona Almonds and a yummy, nutty Parmesan I picked up in Wisconsin of all places. Sofa king good! Thank you for the inspiration! More recipes please!!
Hi Meredith. Thanks SO much for the comments and I am thrilled that you two enjoyed the recipe! I too would use red onion but when the salad was inspired I was using an onion from a friends garden, he was growing white so opted for that over red 🙂 I can imagine that the EVOO was deelish, I like to use MacEvoy Ranch as it is from my home town but there are many amazing artisan options now! Yes please stay tuned for more recipes and tidbits and please share with your friends! Thanks again for your support!
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