Food is magic. Well, cooking good food, and serving it to people who find comfort in it, is magic. Maybe for some it’s a big salad or a vegan veggie bowl, and for others it’s biscuits and gravy or a slab of ribs. For me, it’s all of the above, at different times, for different reasons.
So I decided to go with what my comfort is right now for my first post. I’m going to give y’all the recipe to my very favorite kale salad. Look, I know, it’s not the most exciting sounding thing. But it’s a building block for me and a lot of the meals I cook for myself and my husband. Grilled chicken and kale salad. Salmon and Caesar kale salad. Kale salad as a bed for a delicious veggie and chickpea Mediterranean bowl. Unending Buddha bowls. I could go on and on, but for now, here goes:
Ingredients
1 bunch of curly green kale
¼ cup olive oil
1 lemon
Salt and pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
¼ cup Pecorino romano, grated finely
Pull the leaves from the stem with your hands. You just want the leaves! You can also use a knife to cut them, but I find it to be easier and fast to just use my hands.
Chop the leaves finely. Like, very small. Go crazy with that knife. Not serial killer crazy, but make those pieces no bigger than your pinky nail. Once it’s all de-stemmed, I like to roll the bunches of leaves into “cigarettes” and chop both ways to create really, really small pieces. The small pieces help with digestion. Plus, I for one hate being the person at the table that’s attempting to shove a piece of lettuce in my mouth the size of my hand. It’s not a cute look.
Dump the kale and olive oil in a big bowl. This is the important part. Massage that kale with your hands. Give it some serious love. Do this for about 1 minute. Again, this helps with softening up the kale and makes it easier for digestion.
Add in the juice of the lemon, the salt and pepper, garlic powder, and cheese. Salt and pepper to taste, but know that the pecorino romano is salty already, so you might not need as much as you think. Taste and add as you go. Snacks while cooking are very, very important.
Stir and enjoy! It’s extra good if it’s been in the fridge for about an hour. It also works wonderfully as the base to a buddha bowl, and any kind of salad you can dream up. Add chicken! Add black beans and rice! Add nothing! Go crazy, kid!
Kale Salad
1 bunch of curly kale
¼ cup olive oil
1 lemon
Salt and pepper
1 tsp Garlic powder
¼ cup Pecorino romano, grated finely
Cut the stems from the leaves on the kale. You just want the leaves! It also can be easier to pull them off by hand.
Chop the leaves very finely.
Dump the kale and olive oil in a big bowl. Massage it with your hands. Do this for about 1 minute.
Add in the juice of the lemon, the salt and pepper, garlic powder, and cheese. Salt and pepper to taste, but know that the pecorino romano is salty already, so you might not need as much as you think. Taste and add as you go.
Stir and enjoy! It’s extra good if it’s been in the fridge for about an hour.
Comments