Kale, Lemon & Olive Oil Salad

Method

1. 1

   Step 1

   Wash your hands, then wash the kale just before using it: rinse the leaves under clean, cool running water, rubbing them gently with your fingers, especially in the curly folds where soil can hide. Drain well.

2. 2

   Step 2

   Dry the leaves completely in a salad spinner, in batches, then pat them with a clean towel. The dressing only clings to dry leaves; wet leaves give a watery, bland salad.

3. 3

   Step 3

   Strip the leaves from the thick stems. Tear them into small bite-size pieces (2–3 cm), or roll them up and slice into 5 mm ribbons for a finer salad. Keep the stems for a soup or a sauté.

4. 4

   Step 4

   In the bottom of the large bowl, whisk the lemon zest and juice with the garlic, if using, and the salt. Leave for a minute so the salt dissolves, then whisk in the olive oil.

5. 5

   Step 5

   Add the kale to the dressing and massage it with clean hands for 2–3 minutes, scrunching and rubbing the leaves, until they shrink by about a third and turn darker, glossy and tender.

   Tip: This is the step that makes the salad: massaging softens the leaf’s fibers and mellows its bitterness.

6. 6

   Step 6

   Leave the salad to rest for 10 minutes at room temperature so the dressing keeps softening the leaves.

7. 7

   Step 7

   Taste a leaf, then season with black pepper and adjust the salt or lemon; add the Aleppo pepper, if using.

8. 8

   Step 8

   Pile the salad onto a serving dish, scatter over the pumpkin seeds and finish with a last drizzle of olive oil.

Cooking tips

• Use your best olive oil: in a recipe this simple, every ingredient shows.
• Taste before adding more salt; lemon and salt together balance kale’s slightly bitter edge.
• This recipe uses the whole 250 g bag. To make half and find other ways to use the bag, see What can I cook with 250 g?.

Storage & leftovers

Unlike lettuce salads, dressed kale salad holds its texture well. Refrigerate leftovers in a covered container within 2 hours and eat within 3–4 days; the texture is at its best in the first day or two. Add the seeds just before serving so they stay crunchy. Keep any unused kale unwashed, in its bag, in the crisper drawer at 0–4 °C.