It happens to all of us. Dinner is almost ready but something seems amiss. Yes, a salad would be just the right thing but a box of salad greens is simply not an option. You scour the fridge for fresh vegetables and come up with a hodge podge of things that do not seem to belong in the same bowl. You bravely go ahead anyway and a new favourite is born. Say hello to Sweet Pepper Kale Salad!
I made a big pot of Ragù alla Bolognese yesterday along with a chocolate caramel tart. It was comfort food to the max especially after a gruelling day of exercising. As much as I love a carb fest, my menu begged for a light refreshing salad both as a palate cleanser and a virtuous addition. I rummaged in my fridge and found some red shepherd peppers, a bunch of lucinato (dinosaur) kale, a lone Gala apple, and a red onion. It took a bit of marinating, a bit of chopping, and a bit of tossing but an unusual crunchy sweet salad quickly joined my menu.
Sweet Pepper Kale Salad
serves 4 as side dish
Ingredients
- 1/2 of a small red onion, diced
- 6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 big pinches of kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoon pear or apple butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Gala (or other sweet crunchy varieties) apple, diced
- 3 sweet red peppers, diced
- 4 leaves of lucinato kale, chop to ribbons
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method
- In a large mixing bowl, toss red onion with red wine vinegar and 2 big pinches of kosher salt. Let it marinate for 30 minutes to an hour at room temperature.
- Add mustard, pear butter, and olive oil to marinated red onion. Whisk until homogenous.
- Toss apple dices in mixing bowl until well coated with vinaigrette. Toss in red pepper and kale ribbons until evenly dressed. Season with black pepper to taste.
- This salad holds well in the fridge for a couple of hours. In fact, I prefer the kale to wilt a bit to take on the flavour of the vinaigrette.
