Over the past few months, I've been back to experimenting with raw kale salads after having a particularly delicious kale salad made by a friend this summer. She said her trick was to really let the lemon juice and olive oil soak into the salad before serving to remove the bitterness. Mimicking her recipe, I started with a few variations of a salad that generally included:
- One bunch chopped kale, usually lacinto but have used Red Russian
- Approx. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Approx. 1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Finely chopped apple
- Grated parmesan to taste
- Homemade salad dressing: Usually a combination of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, 1 clove chopped garlic, black pepper, and salt. I've tried different ratios of each ingredient, and haven't found a "perfect" combination yet.
I generally first toss the lettuce with the lemon juice and olive oil, and then let the greens sit for approximately 30 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients and serving. I have generally found that the salad is better the next day, but unfortunately the continued bitterness of the kale makes eating the salad feel more like a chore than anything else. Hopefully one day I will actually be able to replicate or create a raw kale salad that I look forward to eating!
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