Can be dressed and ready to go!
Kale seems to be all the rage today. Up until a couple of years ago, I had never eaten kale. Since then I have experimented with kale chips, kale and mashed cauliflower with kale (or potatoes) and just plain old cooked kale.
Our HEB market here sells a Kale salad that comes from the mother ship — Central Market. I’m still mad that the powers that be did not see fit to put a Central Market in The Woodlands about five years ago. Since then we have gotten a Trader Joe’s and a Hubble and Hudson which are great little stores but I miss my trips to Central Market to check out all the unusual things they have. (All I have to do is drive to Houston, but seems like a long grocery shopping trip now since we have so much right here.)
What amazes me about this salad is that it will last for several days after having been dressed at the store (I hope mine last that long). And it really does stay fresh for at least 3 days. We get together with friends occasionally and go out on their boat on Lake Conroe. We usually go out around 5:00, find a nice quite spot and float around on noodles and then have some food and drinks. Although the drinks are happening as we float also. When we went recently, the water was still a little too cold to float in so we just enjoyed the afternoon, friends, good food, wine and the beautiful sunset. This salad was perfect for the afternoon because I mixed it all up with the dressing and it was perfect by the time we were ready to eat.
So, how did I get this recipe. Well I didn’t. Since it is sold in the “foods to go section” of the grocery, they put a label on it saying exactly what is in the salad; I simply copied down the ingredients and set about coming up with an orange sesame vinaigrette recipe. I love the texture of the kale (chopped in small pieces) because it does not get soft or limp after sitting all “dressed” and waiting for you to eat it. The crystallized ginger is yummy in it and the dried cranberries add a lot to the sweet/tart taste of the salad. If you don’t like almonds, substitute walnuts or pecans. I did add bacon to the recipe; never a mistake.