SUNDAY SALADS: MANGO KALE
This summer I plan to focus on salads for our Sunday family dinners. Trying to develop some healthier habits. Adding a side of fish, grilled chicken, or shredded pork will hopefully make satisfying meals, but much lighter than the standard meat and potatoes.
You can see our version of an Asian salad meal if you go here.
A few weeks ago I found another great salad recipe on Food Network. It’s called Massaged Kale Salad and even though the name is a tiny bit weird, the salad is INCREDIBLE! Read the original comments and you’ll see that this recipe is often referred to as “salad crack”. Honestly, I have no idea what they’re talking about…but…I’m pretty sure I agree:)
Because three of us can easily polish off a single recipe, I’ve learned to always double the original. In case you’re like me, and haven’t prepared kale before, I’m going to walk you through the steps.
Wash a large bunch of fresh kale and then shake or spin dry the leaves. Snap off the long stalks and discard.
Fold each leaf in half lengthwise and trim out the center rib.
Bundle leaves together and cut into 1/2″ thin slices.
Next, mix together the simple, wonderful, nummy salad dressing. Note: most of these ingredients could be found in your awesome food storage!
Honey Lemon Vinaigrette
Fresh Ingredients
1 bunch kale
1 lemon, juiced
Storage Ingredients
1/4 cup light olive oil
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon course ground black pepper
Lightly whisk all dressing ingredients together and drizzle over the bowl of cleaned and chopped kale.
Toss like crazy.
Lots more than that, please.
Keep going. Remember, they called it massaged kale. Ew.
Every piece has to be covered…
Then, you just add sliced mango, or any combination of fruit, plus some nuts, if you like.
Fresh mangoes, red grapes, and glazed pecans were tonight’s combination. The glazed pecans were prepared using this recipe. Mangoes, strawberries, avocado, and toasted almonds makes another excellent variation. If you love feta or gorgonzola, by all means throw some cheese on top!
Besides the fact that this salad tastes soooo great, is loaded with healthy color and vitamins, and always gets rave reviews, THE WHOLE THING CAN BE MADE AHEAD OF TIME! Can you believe it? It’s true! Finally! A wonderful green salad that can be fully prepared and even dressed ahead of time. Like 24 hours! I could weep. At first I couldn’t believe it but after enjoying the leftovers on the second day (which incidentally has only been possible one time, because it’s that good) I found that the leaves were just as nice, and the richness of the overall flavor maybe even improved, having had more time to marinate.
So there you have it! Big thanks to Aarti at the Food Network. My family thanks you, my friends thank you, and all the guests at the last baby shower thank you.
Tags: fabulous food storage dressing, summer strategy for Sunday salads
June 18th, 2012 at 10:15 pm
This sounds really tasty. I didn’t plant any kale this year, but I may have to after reading your recipe. Thank you for sharing it. I’m thinking that the dressing would be good on any fruit/nut/greens sort of salad, too. I’m sure I’ll be giving it a try.
June 20th, 2012 at 8:37 am
Well, what do you know? Kale is on sale this week – I think God wants me to make this salad!
June 20th, 2012 at 10:14 am
We have a kale salad I usually make once a week, but yours is a little different. Time to try something new! It’s really crazy how it gets better the second day, huh? I always make mine at least 12 hours in advance so the kale will soften. I’m going to try yours. You should try the combination of apples, strawberries, slivered almonds and shredded coconut next time!
June 21st, 2012 at 11:28 am
We got HUGE bunch of kale in our CSA box this week, so I think I know what’s for dinner!
June 22nd, 2012 at 10:24 am
We’ve been out of town enjoying a little family vaca. but today I was able to check in, and read these comments. Always good to hear from you, Laura, Marie, and Elizabeth, and I hope you enjoy this recipe! It seems like I read somewhere that kale is one of the most nutritious foods we can eat.
August 27th, 2012 at 10:13 pm
Thanks for posting this. I also just got some kale in my produce co-op basket and was wondering what I should do with it. Now I know!
January 25th, 2013 at 11:11 am
[...] does one do with this cabbage-like vegetable? If you can get a good deal on mangos, I recommend this salad. (But I generally try to cook with what I have in my pantry and what I get from the produce co-op.) [...]