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Monday, May 18, 2009

Kale and Chard Salad with Blue Cheese and Walnuts

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kale salad 1

This salad is now one of my favourites to make at home. It is so easy to make and the result is amazing. I am a big fan of  greens like kale, chard, mustard greens, collards. They are so good for you, versatile and inexpensive. I use them in soups, sauteed with vegetables or raw like in this salad. I also love to add nuts to my salad dishes and walnuts is the choice here, it goes very well with the blue cheese.  This salad is nice enough to serve for guests and since curly kale makes a lot of volume, you can get a lot of bang for your buck.

The recipe (if we can call it that) is very loose, I make it without any measurements, but since I know many people have a hard time making vinaigrette at home, I put a simple recipe with the proportions I use here at home. It is my everyday salad dressing, sometimes I add some Dijon mustard, other days a little crushed garlic. The recipe posted here is always the starting point.

 

Kale and Chard Salad Recipe:

This is more an ingredient's list rather a recipe, the quantities are up to you, keep in mind that curly kale leaves make lots of volume.

Kale

Swiss Chard

crumbled gorgonzola cheese

walnuts

raisins

parmesan cheese (shavings)

 

Remove the tough stems from the kale and roughly chop the leaves. Do the same with the chard, leaving some of the stem. Wash and dry leaves well. Toast walnuts in a dry pan for a few minutes over low heat. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and toss it with the vinaigrette (recipe bellow).

For the vinaigrette:

This recipe makes 1/2 cup of dressing, make more if needed, or store left overs in the fridge if it's too much.

1/4 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of honey

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano (optional)

 

Place all ingredients in a jar, close the lid and shake it well. Alternatively, whisk it with a whisk or fork in a bowl until combined.

 

kale salad

10 comments:

Karen said...

This is one beautiful and delicious looking salad. I love walnuts in a green salad like this.

Laura said...

This looks delicious! I love all the ingredients you have in this salad!

Elyse said...

Mmm, this salad looks delicious! Kale and chard are actually two of my favorite greens! And, of course, walnuts make everything more delicious. What a fabulous and healthy treat! I love your blog; looking forward to reading more :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this delicious recipe! My boyfriend and I recently made this salad and really enjoy the combination of ingredients. Definitely will share this with others!

Anonymous said...

Should this salad be served warm or cold? Can it be made ahead of time? Thanks!

Rita said...

@Anonymous - It is a cold salad, or room temp, but not warm. The greens will wilt if you warm them up, might be interesting, but would affect the texture. You can make everything ahead of time, even the night before, but I would suggest keeping the dressing separate in a jar and tossing just before serving. I do this all the time, take a big batch of salad to work, leave it in the fridge with a jar of dressing on the side. Hope it helps!

Anonymous said...

This was a delicious salad. I added chopped dried cherries for a little extra sweetness.

Anonymous said...

thank you this was a wonderful addition to our dinner! I had the greens from our local farm stand
and it was to hot to cook!

dawn said...

I just had a similar salad from the metromarket deli over the weekend and it's the latest addition to my faves list! I was attempting to deconstruct but couldn't quite tell if the greens were raw or blanched. I started searching the interwebs for similar recipes and came across your blog. Raw! Thank you for solving the mystery! :)

Rebekah Daphne said...

this was quite nice! I used feta and craisins rather than gorgonzola and raisins. I thought it was a tad too lemony-- I'll try reducing to 2 tablespoons of lemon juice next time :)

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