Introducing my Chicken Kale Salad.
Now THIS is a kale salad I crave!
And the high delicious factor goes without saying!
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But I really hope you try this recipe in its entirety too, because its something else!
Because theres a number of components to this salad.
But its worth it!
And were just making a salad here.
Its perfectly straight forward.
The kale (& onion)
First up, the kale!
The leaf is also softer than curly kale.
Just chop or tear into small bite size pieces.
Onion Just a quarter of a red onion which we sliced very finely so it flops throughout the salad.
I like the freshness if adds into this salad.
Tahini is typically found in the health food aisle in grocery stores, else alongside spreads.
Parmesan For a good hit of savoury flavour.
Its best to grate your own but even pre-grated is fine because we blitz it smooth.Alternative Anchovies.
Use as many as you dare to add flavour and salt without the sauce tasting fishy.
Lemon The tang in this dressing, to balance out the richness of the tahini and olive oil.
Fresher than vinegar, though it’s possible for you to substituted withapple cider vinegarorwhite wine vinegar.
Waterto thin the sauce to a toss-able consistency.
Dont worry, it doesnt dilute the dressing flavour, theresloadsof flavour in the dressing!
burst roast tomatoes
Named as such because theyburstin your mouth!
crispy seasoned chickpeas
And last but certainly not least, the crispy chickpeas!
Im using my go-to spice mix for chickpeas here, recently featured in theSpicy maple roast carrotsrecipe.
And its a good starch too, that will keep you feeling fuller for longer.
Burst roast tomatoes & crispy chickpeas
Bake together Toss the tomatoes in oil, salt and pepper.
Then drain the chickpeas and put them, still wet, onto a separate tray.
Burst tomatoes Let them cool on the tray until youre ready to use them.
Dont handle them, they are delicate and prone to, well, bursting!
Crispy chickpeas Once the chickpeas are ready, just set them aside to cool slightly before using.
Nobody wants a third degree mouth burn from hot little crispy balls of chickpeas!
I just rip it off quick, easy, effective!
Separatethe leaves then work one leaf at a time.
Dont worry about crushing the kale leaves, they are hardy and can take it.
In fact, we crush them deliberately to soften them!
Stem Discard or throw into your next batch ofvegetable stock.
Making the kale salad
Soften kale Kale is a little chewy when eaten raw.
So I like to soften it before using in salads.
Not much is needed a little goes a long way, you will be surprised!
About 10 seconds of enthusiastic scrunching is all thats needed to disperse the oil onto each bit of kale.
Then set it aside for 20 minutes which will soften the kale leaves.
In fact, the kale can keep like this overnight, it wont go soggy like other leafy greens.
If you dont mind the chew, feel free to skip this step!
Blitz dressing Use a stick blender to blitz the dressing until smooth.
A stick blender works best.
If you use a blender, youll need to really scrape the sides / blades well.
For a food processor, youd have to use a small one.
You will have some little parmesan lumps but the dressing will still be tasty.
Tossthe kale with about two thirds of the dressing (we drizzle the rest on at the end).
No need to be exact here, just eye ball it.
Add ins Add the chicken, red onion and cherry tomatoes then toss again just to disperse them.
Just pile them on.
Finishby drizzling with the remaining dressing and a big shower of freshly grated parmesan.
But it doesnt need it.
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In fact, as I said in the opening, it doesnt need all the extras.
And I hope you become obsessed with it as I have.
Nagi x
PS Great one for making ahead up to 2 days.
Yes, a giant life-size Dozer sticker on the front of RTM.
And in other news, Dozer was visitingRTMfor a shoot day with a professional photographer (Rob Palmer).
Instead, he just stood there and barked all day.
Im hoping he hasnt peaked yet and has more improvements to come.
Hes been to the vet and has another visit scheduled for tomorrow.
Fingers crossed he gets over it soon so we can re-commence his strength training!
I love that photo so much, it just captures his attitude perfectly!
His personality completely changes, he perks up and has more energy.
I think its great for his muscle rehab so Im going to keep taking him.
Woah, that was a much longer Dozer update than expected!
Ill sign off here and hope to bring more happy news with the next recipe!
Back at the vet for his latest problem – maybe gastro?
