Kale-Apple Salad with Cranberries and Pine Nuts

When indulgent winter meals catch up to you, a kale and apple salad can be a nice change of plate scenery. Slicing the kale thin and coating it in an easy yet silky lemon, honey, and apple dressing tenderizes the tough leaves and tones down the bitterness. Fresh, tart apples, toasted pine nuts, and sweet dried cranberries make for a satisfying, flavorful salad.

The Story

If you play your cards right, a kale salad doesn't have to taste like medicine. Preparing the tough leaves properly and choosing complementary ingredients can temper the winter green's bitterness. And I dare say transform its raw state into a hearty, delicious forkful.

First, shredding the dark, sturdy leaves makes them more palatable and easier to chew. The sweetness of garnishes like apples and cranberries with a lemon-honey vinaigrette balance out its pungency. Creamy Roquefort adds a wonderful saltiness and umami. Salted cashews are a nice vegan substitute for blue cheese (or reach for your favorite plant-based "blue cheese"). Oil in salad dressing will help the fibrous leaves soften (as any kale masseuse will attest).

I first enjoyed this recipe's inspiration at Terrapin in Rhinebeck, New York while attending the CIA (culinary education, not covert operations). The chef served the salad during the frigid New York winter when kale is most abundant and in season. And I agree, the colder months are when this salad best hits the spot.

As for kale's so-called superfood status, that's for you to decide. But this salad is seriously packed with many essential vitamins and minerals (just check out the nutrition information below the recipe). For less sugar, leave out the honey in the dressing and ditch the dried cranberries.

The Formula

A recipe isn't the key to a great salad. But a balance of flavor and textures that make your taste buds sing. With this salad as an example, the formula looks like this:

This approach applies to any dish. But is more important with salads because the typical main ingredient - lettuces and greens - are either bland or bitter alone. So without complementary and contrasting flavors, a salad can prove one-dimensional (my nice word for boring).

The Ingredients

While kale is quite a strong, bitter vegetable, it also plays nicely with many traditional salad ingredients (think cheese and sourdough croutons). Feel free to experiment with different dried and fresh fruit, nuts, and cheeses.

• Lacinato (dinosaur) kale. This is the dark green kale with flat, crinkly leaves. Markets may label it dinosaur kale or even Italian kale. Substitute any type you like. Red russian kale leaves are a little softer and easier to chew. And buying a bag of chopped kale saves time and effort.

• Apples. The flavors of this salad are designed to complement sweeter, red varieties of apples like Honeycrisp and Gala. But any type you enjoy will be delicious.
• Pine nuts. Pine nuts, or pignoli, are tiny, crunchy little nuggets of fiber and protein. This particular tree nut melds with many flavors (and is not as common an allergen as other tree nuts). Pecans and walnuts are two more to try.
• Dried cranberries. Chewy sweet texture and beautiful crimson color. If sugar is a health concern, leave them out.
• Roquefort. Whether a plant-based version of blue cheese or authentic Roquefort, cheese on any salad is an entirely personal preference. If you enjoy and eat blue cheese, I love and recommend Point Reyes Blue out of Northern California. Fresh goat cheese is salty and tangy and pairs well with kale (bonus if you can find the goat cheese covered in dried cranberries).
• Olive or avocado oil. I love avocado oil in dressings for its omega-3 content and neutral flavor. Olive oil lends its signature taste to the dressing but works well.
• Ground cinnamon. More spices to try in the vinaigrette are nutmeg, cardamom, and allspice.
• Honey. Raw honey is the top-shelf choice. Orange blossom honey adds aromatic floral notes.
• Apple cider vinegar. White wine and champagne vinegar are good substitutes.
• Lemon juice. Fresh-squeezed is best, but any lemon juice slows the oxidation of the cut apples.

The Steps

Peeling the apples for the vinaigrette and salad is optional. I leave the skin on for added texture and nutrients.

1. Blend the vinaigrette. Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a blender or small food processor and blend until smooth. Without either tool, you can substitute applesauce for the apple and whisk the ingredients together in a bowl. Or omit the apple altogether.
2. Toast the nuts. In a small sauté (shallow) pan over medium heat toast the pine nuts shaking the pan often. Once the nuts are fragrant and lightly browned, remove them from the heat immediately (the nuts can burn quickly). Set aside. 
3. Wash and slice the kale. Wash the kale, dry it well, and tear or slice the leaves off the stems. (You can save the stems for roasting, grilling, or chopping and simmering in soups and stews.) Stack the kale leaves and pinch them together with your non-dominant hand. Then with a sharp knife, slice the leaves as thinly as possible into chiffonade (French culinary speak for thinly sliced or shredded).
4. Core and chop the apple. Core and chop the apple into quarter-inch pieces. You don't need an apple corer. Simply cut large pieces of the apple flesh away from the core and chop them with the cut side down for the most stability. 
5. Dress and serve the salad. Combine the kale, chopped apples, toasted pine nuts, cranberries, and any cheese in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle a pinch of salt evenly over the ingredients. Add the vinaigrette to the bowl a few spoonfuls at a time and mix until all the ingredients are lightly coated. Add more dressing to your liking. Freshly grinding or sprinkling black pepper over the top of the finished salad adds subtle spice. 

Variations

• Kale and Brussels sprouts. Replace half of the kale with shredded Brussels sprouts. The sprouts are still plenty crunchy, but much less bitter.
• Sprinkle in quinoa. Mix in half a cup of cooked quinoa for a true meal of a salad and added protein.
• Butternut or acorn squash. For a colorful vegan delight, peel and cut up an acorn or butternut squash into cubes. Then coat them in oil and salt, and roast the squash at 400° F until it's golden brown and fork tender. Cool (or don't), and add to the salad.

Frequently Asked Questions