In spite of many people already feeling Fall, we are still enjoying summer. As a matter of fact, part of July and August were so overcast here that we thought that this year we would not have summer at all…luckily, summer is finally here at the South Bay. We have been spending a lot of time walking at the beach and enjoying the weather…with that being said, I am still in the mood for salad.
This is the first time that I made salad with kale. I usually make kale chips or add to soup….after seeing so many kale salads, I decided to eat it raw, and I felt in love with it, although I must admit that my husband did not care much for it. He is a little biased because he never liked kale and after baking loads and loads of kale chips he finally started to accept them…maybe after more batches of kale salad, he will acquire the taste for it…
Since kale is kind of chewy, I decided to add quinoa so the texture of the kale could be masked by the soft and nutty flavor of quinoa. And citrus dressing was a natural way to break the bitterness of the kale…
Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale, I used the curly ones
5 to 6 tablespoon orange champagne muscat vinegar, I used the one from Trade Joe’s
½ red quinoa (or regular quinoa)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Dry cranberry to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can of Mandarin oranges
Roasted sliced almond
Method:
Cook the quinoa according to the instruction on the package. Once cooked, let it cool and place in the refrigerator for approximately 1 to 2 hours.
In the meantime, remove the kale leaves from the ribs and torn the leaves into small pieces (1/2 inch). Wash thoroughly and spin it dry.
In a bowl, add the orange champagne muscat vinegar and using your hands, gently squeeze the kale leaves until tilted. Place in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes.
Remove the kale leaves from the refrigerator and add all the ingredients but the toasted sliced almond and Mandarin oranges.
Mix until all the ingredients are well mixed.
Place in serving bowl and sprinkle with the toasted almond and Mandarin oranges.
If you enjoy this simple and quick recipe of kale salad you might want to check on Kale Chip or Quinoa Salad with Mint recipe.
Did you know that kale is super rich in vitamin K? Vitamin K is crucial for the body function but one has to be cautious since too much vitamin K can interfere with some anticoagulant medications. Moreover, kale contains oxalate which affects the absorption of calcium, therefore avoid eating calcium rich food with kale.
