Tag Archives: kale salad

Recipe: Kale Salad

Kale salad is something that I eat occasionally, and enjoy the most at Foxley restaurant in Toronto. My good friend Kathryn recently served me a kale salad in Tuscany based on the salad she frequently orders at a Toronto restaurant. Perhaps it was the Italian kale-her salad was a vast improvement on the restaurant version and inspired me to make it! This salad is incredibly easy to make and a delicious, healthy choice of greens. Kale contains vitamin A, K and C, antioxidants we all need. I brought home some fig flavoured pecorino cheese from Italy, which was a special touch. Otherwise pecorino cheese works well.

1 bunch of black kale, stems removed, cut very finely horizontally across the leaf

Juice of 1 lemon or more to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons currants

Grated pecorino cheese, to taste

2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

Fresh ground pepper to taste

In a large bowl, mix together kale and lemon juice thoroughly with your hands (‘massage’ the kale with the lemon juice). Drizzle olive oil and mix well. Mix in currants and toss with grated pecorino. Let stand for 15 minutes, or refrigerate covered, overnight. Add sunflower seeds and ground pepper before serving, enjoy.

 

 

 

 

Eat Your Greens

Most of us would like to lose fat from our bodies in select areas (see hormone fat loss post). I generally find it far too difficult to deprive myself of any food or drink, so I look for other solutions, such as making small changes. The most positive and easy to accomplish is adding more variety of foods or drinks that I consume. One of our favourite fat loss tips that we suggest to our clients is to try eating at least one cup of cooked greens everyday. Cooked green vegetables such as broccoli, brussel sprouts, collard greens, kale, cabbage, spinach, rapini, swiss chard, asparagus, dandelion greens, watercress, callaloo, the list goes on.
Most of us including myself need to work at eating a variety of foods to obtain an adequate variety of nutrients. This point is very important especially with plant foods as they all have slightly different phytochemicals and antioxidants that are highly beneficial to our health. I have looked to professional chefs for inspiration with different ways to prepare and enjoy veggies, as they are the experts at making food taste and look good. I have shared a few sources of veggie inspiration in previous posts and I will continue to look for inspiration and encourage veggie consumption.
I was out for dinner twice this weekend and came across restaurants that had great tasting greens on their menu. I would not have eaten that amount of greens if I had not ordered these items. I was at Foxley (a perennial favourite Toronto restaurant) with a friend and we ordered both the green mango seaweed salad and the kale salad. Both were absolutely delicious and a substantial amount of greens. My friend and I both commented that we would not know how to prepare seaweed or kale in such a delicious way, but we were happy to eat it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was also surprised to find great greens at Lil Baci last night. Their tuscan kale salad is exceptionally seasoned and their fresh fava and greens were well prepared and tasty. Again, items I would not have made myself, but I certainly enjoyed eating once on a plate before me. Look on the menu the next time you are out for a meal and see if there is a veggie you are willing to try. You may be surprised that it tastes good and you’re willing to try it again.