tender kale salad

with apples and pomegranate

This simple salad is really all about the kale. It makes a lovely first course or side salad, but could be made heartier with the addition of your favorite protein and other extras.

Kale has become popular with the “health food” crowd because it’s super good for you. In fact, all leafy greens are good for you, and we should all try to incorporate more of them into our diets. But among the greens, kale stands out. Want to know all the scientific benefits of kale? You can find them here, at Healthline. A three minute read will have you chowing down the stuff with gusto.

But there are a lot of kale haters out there.

It’s true.

These deep green leaves can be tough, fibrous, a little bitter, and hard to chew.

Unless you know the secret.

And the secret is, give your kale a massage. New age music and incense are optional.

Massaging the dressing into the kale leaves breaks down their fibers and transforms them into tender, sweet, pleasantly chewy morsels of vegetable goodness. In this salad, shavings of apple add sweetness to every bite and pretty pomegranate arils add a burst of tart juiciness.

Ingredients:

For the Salad

• A bunch of kale, any variety

• 2 small apples, divided use

• Pomegranate Arils

• The juice of ½ lemon

For the Dressing

• 1 cup avocado oil

• 1/3 cup pomegranate juice

• ¼ cup lemon juice

• ½ shallot

• 1 clove garlic

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• ½ ? teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon herbs d’Provence

• ½ small apple, peeled and cored

• Date syrup

Method:

• Cut out the tough center stems from the kale and discard them. Or feed them to the goats and chickens. Or compost them.

• Cut or tear the leaves into bit-sized pieces and soak them for a few minutes in a large bowl of cold water. Kale has a lot of crinkles, where sand and soil, and even tiny bugs can hide. A good swish in cold water will ensure that your kale is clean. Set them out on a tea towel or paper towels, or use a salad spinner, to get rid of the water.

• Peel and core the apples. Either rub them all over with lemon or drop them into a bowl of cold water to prevent them from oxidizing.

• Combine all the ingredients for the dressing, including half of one apple, but excluding the oil, into a food processor.

• Process until smooth. Then, with the motor running, slowly pour in the oil in a steady stream, through the feed tube and let it run until you have a thick, well blended dressing. Taste for salt and adjust if needed.

• Put your clean, bite-sized kale into a large bowl and pour just enough dressing over it to moisten the leaves. Using your hands and fingers, massage the dressing into all of the leaves until they appear just a little wilted and softened. Taste a piece to test for texture. You don’t want to over-do it, or your kale will become mushy. Definitely not the plan.

• Next, you have two choices and both work. It all depends upon whether you want essence of apple or slices of bite-able apple.

1. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the remaining 1 ½ apples. Squeeze some lemon juice over the shreds and toss them gently to ensure that they’ve all been covered. Use a light hand so as not to break them.

   Or

2. Cut the second apple in half and thinly slice all three halves. Dress them with lemon juice as above.

• Add the apple shreds or slices and some pomegranate arils to the kale, add a little more dressing, and toss it all together. You want the salad to be nicely dressed but not drowning. Extra dressing will stay fresh in the fridge for about a week.

Optional additions are: shredded or crumbled cheese, your favorite protein, nuts, and/or seeds. Feel free to get creative.