Kale-Parmesan Salad

Here's another terrific kale salad (and it won't be the last!).  A dear friend, whose taste in food is impeccable, recommended this salad when I told her we had started to harvest our kale.  It's from a blog I wasn't familiar with, Tea & Cookies, but I'll definitely be back to check out the other recipes on this site.  Tara, who writes the blog, has lots of helpful suggestions for (and lovely photos of) this dish, which you can check out here.  She points out that this salad is very lemony and very garlicky, which I love, but doesn't suit everyone; increasing the cheese and olive oil quantities a bit will mellow those flavors.  She also suggests massaging the thin ribbons of kale with the salt a little bit before assembling the salad, to get that raw-but-not-leathery kale texture that we love.

KALE-PARMESAN SALAD

from Tara at Tea & Cookies

serves 2 as a side-dish, or 1 kale enthusiast

1 tbs olive oil (plus additional for drizzling, if you like)
1 tbs lemon juice (plus additional for drizzling, if you like)
½ tsp garlic, pressed or grated on a fine-grade microplane
¼ tsp salt
2 tbs pecorino or parmesan cheese, grated
1 half-inch slice of French or sourdough bread, toasted until dry and crunchy
2 cups of kale (Tuscan or dino kale is best), washed and cut in thin ribbons
ground pepper or crushed red pepper flakes to taste


In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil and lemon juice with the garlic until smooth. Add the salt and a few grinds of black pepper (or some crushed red pepper if you’d prefer). Add half of the cheese and mix until smooth.
Crumble the slice of toasted bread (this is a great use for stale bread) into small pieces and toss with the dressing. Add the kale and toss until the bread is evenly distributed. Taste and add a little more oil or lemon juice, if desired.