#eatyourgreens: Kale-Had-a-Hard-Day Salad

I'm all about balance. So, to counter all of my #burgermonth posts, I'm sharing a greens post for Shaheen's 'Eat Your Greens' food blog challenge, at A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table. Here's the invitation.

Encouraging people to eat their greens is a passion of mine. We even eat the greens from our carrot bunches! Here's a salad that we make all the time; I presented this at a teen cooking class I taught this month called Eating a Rainbow. All of the kids loved it!

Funny story about this recipe. It's really a massaged kale salad, but I wanted to incorporate what my kitchen elf asked about it in its title.

Raw kale is tough, so you need break down the fibers somehow. In the past I have blanched it, softening it before using it in a recipe. Massaging it accomplishes the same thing. The first time my littlest kitchen elf helped me, this was our conversation:

D, can you help Mommy with dinner?
"Sure, what can I do?"
Can you please massage the kale in that bowl?
"What?"
Massage the kale, please.
"Did it have a hard day?"
Yes.
"Okay."

Now he's our resident Kale Master. And he calls it our Kale-Had-a-Hard-Day Salad.

[printable recipe at Massaged Kale Salad]

Ingredients

• 1 bunch kale, larger ribs removed and chopped into 1" pieces
• 2 T olive oil
• juice and zest from 1 lemon
• freshly ground sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• fresh herbs, destemmed and thinly sliced (we used a mix of parsley, basil, mint, and oregano)

Procedure
Place the kale in a large mixing bowl and pour the olive oil and lemon juice over the leaves.

Massage until the leaves are softened and have turned from a greyish-green to a bright, deep emerald.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Fold in the fresh herbs. Let sit for another 10 minutes before serving so the flavors can fully develop.

I also love how flexible this is. As long as you have oil and a citrus you can create any number of combinations. I've done a Kale Salad with Lemon-Lavender and Kale Salad with Apples and Beets, for example.