Simple Kale Salad with Lemon Olive Oil dressing
Servings 4 Servings
The key to delicious Kale salad is all in the massage. It helps the sauce infuse into and softens each leaf. So be sure to give your Kale a good massaging, and you'll be enjoying this delicious, versatile superfood all the time. You'll get your friends hooked on it too.
Ingredients
- 2-3 bunches kale, stems removed, washed, and torn into smaller bite-sized pieces.
- 1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1/3 cup olive oil, extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch/splash crushed Red Pepper Flakes or Your favorite Hot Sauce, adjust amount for desired spice level
- 1 pinch salt, adjust amount for your desired seasoning
- 1 pinch black pepper, freshly cracked; adjust amount for your desired seasoning
Toppings (optional, these are just some of my favorites)
- parmesan (omit or replace with some nutritional yeast for vegan option), freshly grated; adjust for your desired cheesiness
- carrots, finely shredded
- quinoa, leftover quinoa is a great addition, especially when the salad is your main dish.
- almonds or walnuts, slivered or chopped for some crunch
- hemp seeds, sprinkling over a few hemp seeds gives a nice nutty flavor and adds tons of nutrition too.
- oven-roasted chickpeas
Instructions
- Strip the kale leaves off the stems, then tear or cut them into bite-size pieces and wash in a salad spinner, rinsing several times until the water runs clear. Spin the salad as dry as possible. The dryer the Kale leaves, the better your sauce will stick = maximum yumminess!
- Transfer washed kale to a big bowl or individual serving bowls and let it hang out there while you make the salad sauce.
- In a mason jar, combine lemon juice, olive oil, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Then close with the lid and shake, shake, shake!
- Pour salad sauce over washed kale and massage (yup, you read correctly I said massage!). This helps to soften the leaves and marries the sauce to it. Continue to massage the kale until it is soft, saucy, and has shrunken to about half its size in the bowl. About 2 minutes of massaging will do it.
- Top with any other favorite salad toppings. I like to prepare the salad to this point in a large bowl and then let everyone top with their own desired extra ingredients.