Kale Salad, Borrowed Bread

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Title

KALE SALAD

WITH QUICK PICKLED APPLE, ONION, AND CUCUMBER

BY KEVIN SEMAGIN

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PRINTER FRIENDLY

Story 1

When I started making this salad, I was living in New York and often struggled to find ingredients I wanted easily in my neighborhood. Back then, I liked to quote “You can find anything in New York,” and add on “If you have the time to look.” The average corner grocery in Bed-Stuy had a limited selection of fresh, healthy, and interesting food.

This recipe resulted from the combination of limited access to produce and exposure to delicious raw kale salads from my good friend Jacob.

Story 2

The effects of gentrification were creeping in to my neighborhood along with high rents and new, expensive, grocery stores, but the new stores were similar with more vegetables individually wrapped in saran wrap. They had enough to get by, with some organics, but were generally limited. There was no zucchini or Summer Squash, but rather, a green squash and a yellow squash. There was some kind of tomato, plenty of apples, carrots and cucumbers. You could put together a salad on a weeknight, but when the mood called for something special, there was no fennel or endive, no mustard greens or ramps, and not one pickled sun-choke. I wanted to create a centerpiece salad to share with friends, that I could make from what was easily accessible.

Story 3

At the time, I had been experimenting with the “quick pickle” and saw an opportunity to use it. With a bit of salad inspiration from Jacob, I was determined to make a delicious dish with raw kale that also incorporated a quick pickle, and could be made without an excursion to various markets. This is a simple salad with just the basic additions. There’s tomato, cucumber, apple, avocado, red onion, carrot, and feta. It is very satisfying without any added complexity but could easily be tweaked to fit your tastes. Use the basic kale massaging technique and a quick pickle if you would like with whatever strikes your mood. Chick peas, olives, and a lemon vinaigrette would be a nice twist.

I’m a big fan of this salad and I hope that you like it enough to share with your friends and family.

Procedure 1

First, the quick pickle.

Peel the cucumber, cut in half and scrape the seeds out with a spoon. Chop into 1/4 inch thick semi circles. Peel, core and slice the apple. Finely dice the red onion. Combine cucumber and apple in a medium bowl and sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar over them. Place the red onion in a small bowl and add a pinch of salt and sugar as well as a dash of balsamic vinegar. Mix the contents of both bowls well and allow to sit while you continue on to the next steps stirring periodically. The quick pickles need to sit at least 15 minutes but up to half an hour is beneficial.

Procedure 2

Whip up a vinaigrette.

Precision isn’t too important here, you can adjust slightly to your taste. I like more balsamic than some. In a small bowl, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of balsamic, 1 small clove of garlic finely minced, a squirt of mustard (as an emulsifier), a generous pinch of oregano and basil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a cranks of fresh ground pepper. Beat with a fork or whisk and set aside.

Procedure 3

Now the kale...

De-spine your kale and rip or cut into small bite size pieces. In a large bowl, add the kale and about 1 tablespoon of olive oilWith clean hands, massage the kale, gently at first, but don’t be afraid to get a little rough. This will take some time, but make sure to do it thoroughly. Once the texture starts to change, add a splash of balsamic and continue with the massage. When the kale is a noticeably more pleasant texture and tastes a bit more delicious, you are ready to move on to the next step. This might take as long as 10 minutes.