A KEEPER KALE SALAD: With asparagus and edamame this spring salad makes a meal

This combination of kale, roasted asparagus and edamame is the best spring salad recipe I've found — thanks to Yotam Ottolenghi for the inspiration!

This combination of kale, roasted asparagus and edamame is the best spring salad recipe I've found

By CINDA CHAVICH

I’ve read recently that “cabbage is the new kale,” but here on Vancouver Island, where the weather is almost always perfect for growing both, I’m still a big fan of kale.

Back in the day, kale was considered a tough customer — only suitable for long slow braises, a few soups and as the stiff curly greenery decorating salad bars.

Oven-dried kale chips make a healthy snack

But we’ve come to embrace kale since then, and there’s a lot of choice for consumers, with several varieties including curly kale, nearly black spears of lactino kale and baby kale, the kind that goes beyond the sauteed greens to kale smoothies, crispy kale chips and everyday kale salads.

NO LIMP KALE SALADS

I love kale salads because you can, and should, dress the leaves ahead of time. The goal is to slightly soften and wilt the chewy leaves (you can even squeeze and massage them with a bit of coarse salt) before serving.

No danger of serving a limp salad of ubiquitous baby greens that have seen acidity a few minutes too soon.

We simply chop the kale leaves (removing the tough central rib first), add some salt (and maybe a splash of lemon juice or balsamic) and use our hands to squeeze the leaves (aka massage) until they start to soften then set them aside while we finish cooking dinner. Adding a bit of olive oil (or not) and any of your favourite green salad additions (chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh herbs) is all you need to do.

Or for a kale caesar, I include a few squirts of good mayo, some chopped garlic, a dash of lemon juice and Worcestershire, with some crispy croutons and a handful of shredded Parmesan. Like sturdy romaine, chopped kale can stand up to heavier dressings, and really shines with the classic caeasar toppings or other crunchy additions, including crispy fried chickpeas, or roasted nuts and pumpkin seeds.

GETTING THE HEALTHY GOODS FROM EATING MORE KALE

Grow your own kale - it's time to plant

Of course, the other great thing about kale is that it’s a “winter” green (available year round) that packs a big nutritional punch.

Kale is low in calories, high in fibre and loaded with vitamins K, A and C, calcium, quercetin and potassium — great for fighting inflammation, building bones and healthy eyes.

Adding fat (like olive oil) helps with availability of the fat soluable vitamins in kale, whether you saute it or eat it in a salad.

WHERE TO BUY LOCAL KALE

In early spring, there’s greenhouse kale from Sun Trio farms, the tender leaves sold in big bags at the Saturday farmer’s market on Moss Street for just five bucks.

I also found thick branches of sprouting kale at The Root Cellar from local farms, the tender shoots or “kalettes” sprouting along the top stems (also very tender) with pretty and edible yellow flowers on the ends to add a colourful garnish.

Of course, you can also grow your own kale in the garden. It's a hardy green that grows year round in Victoria's warm coastal climate.

THE BEST SPRING KALE SALAD RECIPE I’VE FOUND

Along with spears of tender young asparagus, electric green edamame beans and feathery baby dill, it all combined in a hearty, mustardy kale salad that was truly beyond a sum of its parts.

I have to thank the creative chef and food columnist Yotam Ottolenghi for this inspired combination, a salad that would be perfect for a vegetarian lunch but which stood tall next to the ham and scalloped potatoes served by friends at a holiday gathering. Like all kale salads it’s perfect for a potluck, as the salad holds up well on a buffet long after its dressed.

This is a salad that I will make again — an easy massage of mustardy vinaigrette softening the leaves that are then topped with the soybeans and asparagus, the spears first seared until softened and slightly browned in a skiff of hot olive oil in my biggest carbon steel sauté pan.

Chopped fresh dill is essential, and the recipe calls for fresh tarragon, too. That’s a herb I didn’t find, so sprinkled my salad with some freshly ground fennel seed for a similar anise note (fennel fronds might also stand in well for the tarragon).

The other secret to this salad is Canadian maple syrup — a splash to sweeten the vinaigrette, and an essential ingredient in the lovely sweet and salty topping of crunchy sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Just toss the seeds with a little maple syrup and salt, spread out on parchment paper, and roast in a hot oven until lightly browned and crisp. It’s the flavour and textural contrast to these spring greens that make this salad sing.

In fact, even if you just want an even simpler kale salad, make the sweet, salty, crunch seed topping (double the recipe, it will keep well in a covered container on the counter) and shake up an extra bit of this mustardy dressing, so you can have a healthy, tasty kale salad at a moment's notice!

 

Flowering spring kale tops add colour to this creative kale salad

KALE AND GRILLED ASPARAGUS SALAD

You’ll find this excellent Spring Kale Salad recipe in Yotom Ottolenghi’s plant-forward cookbook, Simple, and it truly is easy for anyone to make. There’s a little bit of massaging and marinating involved here, but you can do that well ahead of time, if need be. Just don’t mix everything together until the last minute, he says. Serves 4-6

Sweet and salty seed topping recipe is a keeper!

3 tablespoons/30g sunflower seeds

3 tablespoons/30g pumpkin seeds

1½ tsp maple syrup

Salt and black pepper

1/2 lb/250g kale, stems discarded, leaves torn into roughly 4-5cm pieces

3 tbsp olive oil

1½ tbsp white-wine vinegar

2 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 lb/500g asparagus, woody ends trimmed

120g frozen shelled edamame, defrosted

½ cup/10g tarragon leaves, roughly chopped

¼ cup/5g dill, roughly chopped

Heat the oven to 160C/320F/gas 2½.

Mix both seeds with half a teaspoon of maple syrup, an eighth of a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper, then spread out on a small oven tray lined with baking paper.

(I used salted pumpkin seeds and eliminated the salt)

Cook in the oven for 12 minutes, until the seeds are golden brown, then set aside for about 20 minutes, during which time they will clump together and crisp up as they cool. Once cool, break the candied seeds into 2-3cm pieces.

(this mixture keeps well in a container at room temperature so you can make it in advance or double the batch for future salads).

Put the kale in a large bowl with the remaining teaspoon of maple syrup, two tablespoons of oil, the vinegar, mustard and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Using your hands, mix together and massage the kale for about a minute, until it softens and takes on the flavours of the marinade, then set aside for at least half an hour (or up to four hours, if you want to get ahead).

Warm a tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan on a medium-high heat and, when hot, add the asparagus and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt, and fry for six minutes, turning regularly so it starts to brown and soften. Leave to cool, then cut on an angle into 4cm-long pieces.

To serve, toss the edamame and herbs into the kale, then spread out on a large platter. Top with the asparagus and candied seeds, and serve at once.

MY TIPS:

I made a few changes to this recipe. I didn't have tarragon so used extra dill and a sprinkling of freshly ground fennel seeds (for the licorice notes found in tarragon).

I also made a double batch of the crunchy seed topping, using salted pumpkin seeds and raw unsalted sunflower seeds, and found adding a little more maple syrup (an extra teaspoon or so) worked well. The seed topping keeps well in a covered container on the counter and makes a great crunchy, salty/sweet addition to any green salad.