Sunday, June 24, 2012

Kale Salad


Forecast for next week is not promising: temperature above 40C (100F) all week long. I was brave enough to cook a few meals and bake some bread, but most of our meals during the week will be cold, cold salads, beginning with a simple kale salad. 
Last Saturday at the Farmer's Market I stopped at the stand with a great selection of leafy greens with young kale being most attractive. I made this salad as soon as I came home from the Market.

Kale Salad With Avocado Dressing and Peaches

Ingredients:
  • 1 bunch kale
  • 1 ripe avocado
  • juice of one lemon
  • 2-3 peaches, chilled


Wash the kale and set aside.
Cut avocado, remove the pit, spoon avocado flash into a small bowl, mash it with a fork, add lemon juice and mix well.
In a large mixing bowl combine kale and avocado dressing, mix well until all kale is coated. 
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Serve with chilled sliced peaches. 


This salad became quickly our favorite, flavor is incredible. I tried other fruits, and even berries, but peaches make the best topping for the avocado coated kale.

Have a great week!

See you,
Marina

34 comments:

  1. This is a beautiful salad! I bet it tastes as good as it looks. I'm going to try this!

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    1. Thanks Della! It tastes delicious, IMO. :) I make it ahead, and keep in airtight container in refrigerator. Then I just add peaches and my lunch/snack/dinner is ready. :)

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  2. Oh wow, I had no idea that you temps got over 40 degrees too! It's so hot at that stage that all you want to do is escape into air conditioning or by a pool!

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    1. No,not the pool, only AC! water in the pool in the middle of the day is boiling hot! :)

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  3. That is hot! Hope it breaks soon. Salad looks great even if the weather is a bit much.

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    1. I hope too, Liz, but it's only beginning on the hot, the hottest months here are July and August...

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  4. I am still waiting for local peaches to appear in our farmers' market.

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    1. I've seen some Georgian peaches in the stores, tried it too. Not bad, but the local from the farmer market are better, they are picked the same day and are ripe and juicy. I guess to try a real Georgia peaches I need to go to one of Georgia's Farmer's markets... :)

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  5. OMG Marina 4oC (100F), that is going to be fri#@$!&^ hot. and i thought that i leave in a hot place. well, that salad sound and looks more than perfect to me, specially with that temperatures. what a great and eautiful and perfect picture you got of the salad. I love the first one spoecially
    Hugs and blessings

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    1. Hi Walkiria, Nice seeing you here again! :) Thanks for your compliment on the photos.

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  6. The dreaded summer is here. After reading your post, I quickly checked and the heat is heading into the triple digits here in Dallas as well this week.

    Your salad looks delicious, by the way!

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    1. Thanks Geraldine! Yep, it's getting into that part of summer when we have those triple digits. Ok, where is Alaska?! :)

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  7. It's salads for us, too. Never combined peaches & kale before - I'll have to give that a try. Thanks.

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    1. It works great, I make a whole bunch of kale, and keep it in refrigerator, then I add only peaches when serving.

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  8. Oh this is a very helpful post and need to keep this!

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  9. oh i love kale--i have never thought of having a cold salad with it--sounds really great!

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    1. We eat kale mostly raw, salads and other meals. Sometimes I cook it, but I prefer it raw to have all the benefits of this wonderful leaf... :)

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  10. My husband is so obsessed with kale that I have had to request that he stop talking about it- so he will love this salad! He really likes it raw but I always find it a little tough, could be my kale isn't the tender type though :)

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    1. Make this salad for him, and he would start eating (and as you know, one can't talk with mouth full) :)
      Try this with your kale: tear it off the stem, place in the colander and pour boiling water over it, then immediately place it in a bowl with a cold water for 2-3 minutes.
      Another way is to prepare this salad (without peaches), place in airtight container in the refrigerator overnight (don't worry, it has lemon juice in it as a preservative). Lemon and avocado will tenderize kale.
      Let me know if it helps. :)

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  11. Well, kale is one of my favorite things and I adore peaches, so I'm thinking I need to give this a go. I bet the sweet, juiciness of the peaches really plays well off of the kale. Yum!

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    1. Hi Heather, if you like kale, you would love this salad. Or any salad... :)

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  12. This sounds so good. We get the best avocados here in FL and I have one that is ripe!

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    1. Oh yes, FL avocados are great. I don't see it in the stores though...

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  13. Oh looks really good. Thanks for the recipe. I'm always trying to figure out ways to eat dark greens like Kale. Have a great week.

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    1. Thanks Valerie. Good luck with your greens! :)

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  14. That avocado salad dressing sounds interesting! I will have to try that. It has been that warm here too, which is crazy for Colorado in June! Summer is here! Stay cool!

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    1. And that dressing is super easy to make too, Jane! :)

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  15. I am not a big fan of kale but peaches look so yummy-)

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    1. I wasn't fan of kale either until I went on my journey to loose weight. I was looking for nutritious food that would fill me up with fiber and all the other good stuff. That's when I looked at kale differently. First, I used it in smoothies and juices, then I started to cook with it (kale soup is really good actually), and after that I only discovered the true taste of raw kale, and it was soo good, that I am still making kale salad every week. :) I missed you here, dear friend! :)

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  16. Never thought of pairing kale with nectarines of peaches... actually, I mostly cook kale really :-), I guess a kale salad is a novel idea to me altogether!

    Ciao
    Alessandra

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    1. Hi Alessandra, I cook sometimes kale too, but in the summer it is so good cold with addition of avocado dressing and peaches. :)

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  17. I so much like greens but surprisingly I have never tried kale. I have to eat it especially after your salad that looks sooo convincing.

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    1. Give it a try and let me know if you like it. :)

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Your warm comments put a smile on my heart.