The Kale Salad I Eat Almost Every Night

 For the past several years I've been eating this kale salad in the summer not because it's my favourite salad and not because I like kale. I eat it because it's easy and it's healthy.

I also like the taste of it, which is remarkable because I don't like kale. It's too kaley. However as far as kale goes, black kale is the least offensive. I'll explain why in a second.

Black Kale also goes by the stage names: Tuscan Kale, Lacinato Kale, Cavolo Nero or Dinosaur Kale. It is all the same thing; an elongated oval shaped dark green leaf with less frills and flop than regular kale.

Black Kale is the only kale I like.

Which is a good thing because as far as Kale goes (which we all know is a "superfood" blah, blah, blah) Black Kale has some very specific benefits.

The Health Benefits of Black Kale

1. Black Kale contains a thing in its cells that gets converted to another "thing" once it's chewed.  This second "thing" has been proven to inhibit and destroy cancer cells.  You will get 10X the anti-benefits if you eat the kale RAW.  Here's one of the studies if you're the medical journal type.  The "thing" is called aIsothiocyanates (ITCs) by the way.
2. Kale is also anti-inflammatory which helps with arthritis, asthma and autoimmune disorders.
3. Per gram, kale is packed with more calcium than milk.
4. In 2013 a study was done and preliminary findings were that Black Kale in particular  had neuroprotective and immunomodulatory effects.  This means Black Kale is now being studied as something that could provide health benefits for people with MS.

It's a favourite salad for 3 reasons:  It has very few ingredients, it's easy to make and you can dress this salad and leave it in the refrigerator for a week and it doesn't go soggy.

The actual salad is made up of just 3 things.  Black kale, parmesan cheese and toasted breadcrumbs (or croutons).  That's it.

So the only prep work is making the dressing and cutting the kale.

Kale has tough ribs so I remove those first.  Just slice down either side of the rib and pull it away from the kale.  Then, because even though black kale is the least tough of all the kales, you still need to slice it fairly thin to make it easier to chew.  I mean, it IS kale after all.  I cut my kale into anything from ¼" to ½" wide strips across the width of the kale.

Then I pour on my dressing (recipe at the bottom of this post) and perform the MOST important task with ANY kale salad.  I touch it.  I caress it.  I give it a massage.

Massaging the kale does 2 things.  It helps open the cell structure which makes the kale less tough and it allows the dressing to enter the kale giving it better flavour.  Kind of like simmering a stew.  Massage the salad and then put it in the fridge for a day.  You can eat it right away but it's much better after it's been massaged and recuperated from it's massage for 24 hours.

When you want to eat it, just pull a handful out of the bowl, top it with shaved or grated parmesan cheese and some toasted breadcrumbs.  I use spelt crumbs when I can find them otherwise I just crunch up a few croutons with my fingers and sprinkle them over the salad.

BLACK KALE SALAD

The beauty of this black kale salad is you can prep and dress it at the beginning of the week and just grab handfuls of it when needed. PLUS it actually tastes good.

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Course: Salad

Cuisine: Tuscan

Servings: 0

Author: The Art of Doing Stuff

Ingredients

• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 3 garlic cloves minced then mashed
• 2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Big pinch of red pepper flakes1-2 bunches of kale depending on the size of your family and their appetite for kale
• Parmesan cheese to taste shaved or grated
• Bread crumbs or croutons

Instructions

• Prep kale by removing ribs and cutting leaves into ¼" - ½" strips.
• Whisk together the first 6 ingredients.
• Pour dressing over prepped kale.
• Massage dressed salad then refrigerate overnight.
• Add big shavings of parmesan cheese and a handful of croutons or crumbs and serve.
• Salad will keep, dressed, in the fridge for up to a week.

If you want to make this salad UNFORGETTABLE, try sprinkling some Buzz Button flower petals on top of it. Not sure what those are? O.K., you have to learn about Buzz Buttons immediately. They make your whole mouth tingle and dance.  You can even grow them yourself.

Two other things that help me out with making this the easiest salad ever is using one of my favourite kitchen tips, this little pre-measured salad dressing bottle DIY.

Are there salads I make that I think are more delicious? Of course. It's kale salad. Nobody actually likes kale, we just eat it until someone declares the next superfood.

There's the Spring mix salad with candied pecans, grapes, brie and a multitude of other delicious things. But you can't save it in the fridge for a week, and you can't brag about how healthy your nightly salad is.