Kale Salad + Crunchy Stuff
Kale is one of the most nutrient dense foods in the world, but we’ve all seen a kale overload in the last few years. Kale pops up in smoothies. There are kale Caesar salads. Kale chips. Kale bits in sausage. Kale has seen an almost 400% increase in getting slid into baby foods!
Well, this is a recipe for another kale salad lol. But wait… the addition of my crunchy stuff mix takes a ho-hum kale salad to another dimension with the magic of textural contrast!
Ingredients
Makes enough salad for 2 people
giant bowl of chopped kale sans stems
1 carrot, cut into ribbons
2 scallions, chopped
palmful of chopped roasted peanuts
palmful of fried shallots
palmful of toasted panko
ranch dressing
But you might want to make more…
1. Put the peanuts, fried shallots, and panko in a bowl and mix together. Add a pinch of kosher salt if you want to punch up the saltiness.
2. Cut the carrots into thin ribbons. If you’ve never cut carrots into ribbons, watch this instructional video to do it the “easy” way:
Alternatively, like me, you can do it the “cool” way and use a Benriner mandoline. I’m not sure why, but most professional chefs and home cooks like this model. Maybe it’s the calming green hue. Maybe it’s the Japanese sensibilities and ergonomic design. It’s certainly not the useless plastic guard or its safety relative to other mandolines. Say again? Yep, you’re totally going to slice your hand with this lol.
3. Cut the scallions on the bias.
Huh? Cut the scallions on a hard diagonal, placing your knife at a 45˚ angle, and cutting thin slices. The bias cut breaks down the fibers in the scallions and looks aesthetically appealing.
4. In a huge mixing bowl, toss the vegetables together with your hands. The goal is to integrate the carrot ribbons and scallions into the kale with every bite.
5. Dress the salad to your liking. I try to stick to 2 tbsp. per person/serving so that the dressing doesn’t oversaturate the vegetables, but you do you. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. THEN HIT THE SALAD WITH THAT CRUNCHY STUFF ON TOP!
