{Meatless Monday} Golden Kale Tahini Salad

We hit a milestone last week.

Evan and I chose our wedding menu. 

We both had such a fun time munching on a variety of dishes and making the final decision for what our friends and family will be eating on evening of our wedding. It feels like the right balance of heavier dishes (hello, mashed potatoes!) and lighter ones (I’m looking at you, roasted veggies).

But, choosing the menu isn’t the milestone I’m talking about. During the tasting, we discovered a kale salad that actually got the seal of approval from my not-so-kale-loving fiancé.

I’m really excited about it. So much so that I even attempted to create my own version of the recipe over the weekend.

Kale salads have the really wonderful ability to hold up as leftovers throughout the week; they don’t get wilty like other salad greens. In fact, they do just the opposite – they keep on getting better and better. 

This salad combines silky kale greens with the creamy tahini dressing, spicy roasted garbanzo beans and sweet golden raisins – it’s no wonder it got two thumbs up from even a non-kale lover! 

Golden Kale Tahini Salad

Ingredients:

5 cups kale, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

pinch of sea salt

1 cup gold raisins

2 Persian cucumbers, sliced

2 avocados, chopped

For the Roasted Garbanzo Beans:

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

pinch of sea salt

For the Lemon Tahini Dressing:

The juice from one lemon

3 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons tahini

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

1.     Preheat the oven to 400 F.

2.     First prep the garbanzo beans. In a medium bowl, combine the garbanzo beans, olive oil, cumin, cayenne pepper, and sea salt. Spread the garbanzo beans on an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring once half-way through baking.

3.     While the garbanzo beans are roasting, place the kale in a large bowl with the olive oil and sea salt. Gently massage the kale with your hands to tenderize the leaves (it helps to lessen the bitter flavor).

4.     Next, prepare the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, water, tahini, and cayenne pepper. Set aside.

5.     Once the garbanzo beans have finished roasting, add the raisins, cucumbers, avocados, and garbanzo beans to the kale.

6.     Top the salad with the dressing and toss.

Enjoy, preferably with those you love.

Roasted Broccoli & Radicchio Winter Salad

We’re big fans of eating seasonal foods.  It  gives rhythm to our recipes and meals throughout the year. There’s something so refreshing about tossing berries on a salad in summertime and something so comforting about a hearty stew with kale and sweet potatoes when the weather cools down.

During these last few months of winter, we encourage you to take advantage of these seasonal, nutrient-rich ingredients for delicious winter salads. Here are a few winter salad ‘greens’ that give you big taste and great nutrition!

• The purplish red and white leaves of radicchio, a member of the chicory family, add a slightly bitter, astringent flavor to salads.  If it’s too bitter for your taste, just grill, roast or sauté the leaves, which brings out the sweet side of this vegetable.
• When you hear Brussels sprouts, you probably don’t think salad.  But this cruciferous vegetable can be shredded and used just like cabbage, to make a Brussels sprouts slaw. 
• Like almost all nutrition lovers, we have a love affair with kale, and other dark, leafy winter greens like collards and Swiss chard.  While we love kale sautéed or added to soups and stews, one of our favorite preparations is to include it in a simple salad.  Just massage the destemmed kale leaves with a little salt and lemon juice, and the tough and slightly bitter leaves become silky and sweet.  Simply dressed with a little olive oil, it’s divine.
• Red, green and savoy cabbage are good for more than just cole slaw.  Thinly sliced or shredded, they make a great base for a variety of salads—your imagination is the only limit!  Cabbage makes a great base for make-ahead salads—great for taking to work—since they just get better as they set and marinate.

Here is a recipe to help you get started in creating your own winter salad.  In general, we like a salad that stimulates and balances all of our senses and tastes—something sweet, savory and bitter; something soft and something crunchy.  This winter salad is that perfect combination. 

Roasted Broccoli & Radicchio Winter Salad

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 head broccoli, cut in small florets

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 small radicchio*, cored and very thinly sliced

½ cup toasted pecans, chopped

½ cup pomegranate seeds

6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (optional)

3 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2.     Place broccoli florets on a large sheet pan.  Sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.  Place in the oven and roast for about 20 – 25 minutes, or until the broccoli is caramelized and cooked through.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

3.     To make the dressing, whisk together the sherry vinegar, maple syrup and extra virgin olive oil.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.

4.     In a large bowl, toss together the sliced radicchio, cooled broccoli florets, chopped pecans, pomegranate seeds and feta cheese (if using).  Pour over the vinaigrette and toss to combine. 

This salad can be made up to 12 hours ahead.

*If you don’t like the bitterness of radicchio, you can substitute any of the other winter greens in this recipe.