Category: Recipes

Kale Caesar Salad

Lauren3 Comments

I am all about fun salads lately.  And by that I mean Cobb salads with bacon dressing, Buffalo chicken salads, and most recently, a kale Caesar salad.  Yes!  In addition to being “all about fun salads,” I’m all about telling myself that since I am ordering these salads at nice, non-chain, definitely-not-fast-food restaurants and since they are made with things like lettuce and kale, they are super healthy.

Kale cancels out Caesar dressing.

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I made this last Thursday night while Joey was out bowling and he seemed to think it was really weird when I told him I was going to massage some kale while he was gone.  I’d never massaged any kale myself, but figured I’d give it a try as it’s all the rage right now.  Turns out it takes kale from bushy and hard-to-chew, to tender and easier to eat, plus it’s kind of fun.  Can kale be considered tender or is that only a term for meat?  Anyways.  After all kale massaging, dressing blending and crouton making was said and done, I had a quite the salad on my hands, er plate.

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P.S. The dressing is completely anchovy-less.  I’m totally fine with knowing they’re in every Caesar salad I’ve ever ordered, I just don’t want to see or deal with them myself.  Sometimes you just need to distance yourself from the anchovy, okay?

Kale Caesar Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 chicken breast
  • 1 head kale
  • 1 slice bread (whatever you have will work)
  • 1-2 cups chopped tomatoes (again, whatever kind you want)
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (+ more for sprinkling on top your salad)
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
  • juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  1. Heat a pan over medium heat, brush chicken with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and cook until no longer pink, flipping halfway through.  (This took me about 15 minutes but I cooked mine over lowwww heat).
  2. Meanwhile, wash, de-stem and chop kale.  Place in a large bowl and begin to “massage,” aka gently rub it together until it just begins to soften and turn a deeper green.  (You can massage as much as you want, I wanted mine just barely softened).
  3. Chop your tomatoes (I used zebra tomatoes, they’re the coolest!) and cut your bread into big cubes.
  4. Remove chicken from pan, let rest about 5 minutes, then chop into small pieces.
  5. Make dressing by adding all ingredients except oil to a food processor or blender.  Once blended, slowly stream in oil.  Et voila.
  6. Preheat broiler, then toast bread cubes until golden.  (I like to let mine go a little long so they get all good and crunchy, as all croutons should be!)
  7. Assemble salad by layering chicken, tomatoes and croutons over the kale, then drizzle with dressing and some extra parmesan, then devour.

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Serve with some roasted corn if you are totally in denial that summer is quickly coming to an end.  And I so am.

Pesto Potato Salad with Pea Shoots

Lauren1 Comment

At our first CSA pick-up on Memorial Day, we were given the option of taking home kale or pea shoots.  Right away, Joey’s answer was “KALE!”  We know kale, we’re comfortable with kale.  But upon second glance at the pea shoots, with all their leaves and those adorable curly-q “pea tendrils,” we immediately changed our minds.  We just had no idea what to do with it.

I went to Foodgawker for some inspiration, came across a picture of a pesto potato salad with pea shoots and was sold.  Not that Joey is a picky eater at all but I also knew he would approve of this idea especially because he loves white potatoes and because I rarely buy them,– I’m a devout sweet potato-atarian — this would be a great chance to get his white potato fix.

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Pesto Pasta Salad with Pea Shoots

For the pesto:

  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh arugula (we used the baby variety)
  • 1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable broth
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  1. Place garlic in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
  2. Add basil, arugula, nuts, salt and pepper and process until combined, then stream in olive oil, broth and lemon juice until mostly smooth.

*This makes about 1/2 cup of pesto, so you will have some leftover after making the potato salad.  Use it on pasta or pizza!

**This time around (maybe Joey was a little heavy handed with the lemon juice :P), our pesto turned out a little thin, but that made it perfect for the potato salad, as you usually need to thin pesto out before mixing it with other things.  If your pesto turns out thicker, just add a bit more vegetable broth.

For the potato salad:

  • 1 lb. small potatoes, cut into small chunks (we used Yukon Golds, but you could use anything, even fingerlings!)
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 bunch pea shoots, remove thick stems and thoroughly chop remaining bunch
  • 1/3 cup pesto
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  2. On a baking sheet, toss potatoes, olive oil and salt, then roast for 30-ish minutes or until potatoes are soft and golden.
  3. In a bowl, toss pea shoots, pesto and roasted potatoes.

Really, this potato salad could not have been easier, or more flavorful.  Side note: pea shoots taste exactly like snap peas and we may or may not have been tossing it in our mouths during the entire production of this dish.  Pea shoot season is very short so if you are lucky enough to snag some this year, I really recommend this recipe.  I also recommend that you pack it up and take it on a picnic.