This weeks recipe is a kale salad.  Kale is not the obvious choice for eating raw as it can be pretty tough and have quite a strong flavour.  With this recipe however, the kale is macerated in the salad dressing, which acts on the tough outer cell walls, breaking them down and making the kale soft and flavoursome.  If you tried this with ordinary lettuce it would collapse and go to mush.

The recipe below uses the things that I happened to have in the fridge, you could also try adding or substituting ingredients like very finely shredded red cabbage, crumbled feta cheese or slivers of Parmesan, toasted seeds, roasted red pepper or chunks of roasted squash.  The list of ingredients are endless.  Let me know your favourite combination.

Marinated Kale Salad

Serves 4

4 handfuls kale leaves – remove any tough stems

1 little gem lettuce – torn or sliced

1 avocado – cut into chunks

4 spears of asparagus – blanched and cut into chunks

2 spring onions – finely sliced

2 tomatoes – cut into pieces

Dressing

3 tbsp virgin rapeseed or olive oil

1 tbsp lime or lemon juice

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs

salt and pepper

  1. Make the dressing – put all the ingredients into a screw topped jar and shake well to combine.
  2. Put the kale leaves into a large bowl and pour over the dressing.  Use your hands to mix the dressing and kale together, rubbing the dressing into the leaves.  You will feel the kale becoming softer.
  3. Add the remaining salad ingredients and toss together before serving.

Thanks to Deliciouslyella for the inspiration behind this salad.