It’s a bold statement. I’m not shy about it. It could be the best salad salad ever. I’ll leave it up to you, dear reader, to decide for yourself.
There’s a great restaurant near where we used to live in NYC called Northern Spy. Definitely give it a try if you’re in the area – it was one of our favorites. They make a kale salad for dinner that’s really simple, but almost perfect. For brunch, they add a poached egg and make it perfect. Yum yum yum. Erik and I have been eating a lot of kale salads with poached eggs lately. It sounds kind of strange, but give it a shot. It makes a quick, filling, and nutrious meal any time of day. Two nights ago, I was HANGRY (so hungry I was angry) and Erik soothed me with one. Before I had time to protest, BAM! it was on the table and calming me down.
Perfect Kale Salad
Makes 4 servings
| Amount | Ingredient | Preparation | Where we bought it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 small | Squash | Red Fire Farm CSA (Honey Nut Squash) | |
| 1/4 cup | Slivered almonds | ||
| 1 1/2 TBsp | Lemon juice | ||
| 1 1/2 TBsp | Olive or sunflower oil | ||
| To taste | Salt and black pepper | ||
| 1 bunch | Kale | Red Russian and Lacinato are great for salads. | Red Fire Farm CSA |
| 4 to 8 | Eggs | Red Fire Farm CSA | |
| 1/4 cup | Cheddar | Cut into small cubes or crumbled | Narragansett Creamery (Atwell’s Gold) |
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut the squash in half and place, cut side down, in a small baking dish. Bake the squash until soft, about an hour, depending on the size of your squash. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
- Spread the almonds on a baking sheet (or pizza pan) and bake for about 15 minutes or until browned. Watch them carefully, because they’ll go from nicely browned to burnt very quickly. You can do all these steps a few days ahead, if you want.
- Once the squash is cooled, remove the skin and chop into bite-sized, but small pieces. Reserve about 1 cup for the salad. Refrigerate the rest for a quick side dish another time.
- Start a pot of water boiling to poach the eggs.
- Pour the lemon juice into a large salad bowl. While whisking, add the olive oil in a thin stream to help it emulsify. Whisk in the salt and pepper.
- Prep the kale, following these instructions, but slicing the ribbons only about 1/4 inch wide. As you finish the kale, toss it into the bowl with the dressing.
- Toss the kale in the dressing, making sure to coat all the leaves. I usually just use my (clean) hands, because I seem to be unable to keep salad in a bowl any other way. It also gives me a chance to give the kale a little tenderizing massage.
- Once the water is at a rolling boil and the kale is dressed, poach the eggs. Only make as many as you want to eat that meal. This salad keeps well in the refrigerator, so you can make a quick meal of the leftover tossed salad and a newly poached egg. We use nifty egg poachers, like these
, and cook our eggs for two and a half to three minutes for a cooked, but runny, egg. You could also just crack them gently into the boiling water and then fish them out with a slotted spoon. It takes a little practice, but works.
- Put a pile of kale on each plate. Top with the squash, cheddar, almonds, and a poached egg (or 2).
BAM, indeed! That salad looks delicious, and I can’t wait to put my kale to good use.
Also, I see that you receive a share from Red Fire Farm. Many years ago, my partner worked on that farm; their produce is reliably fabulous.
That’s so cool! We’ve been very happy with it so far. The variety is great, which is one of the things we were concerned about.
[...] season, I’m going to have to dig back into the blog archives and make our knock-off of the Northern Spy kale salad. If you’re getting a lot of kale and squash from your CSA, it’s a tasty and different [...]