The Rubdown

When it was time to think about lunch today I looked in the refrigerator and noticed a bunch of kale that needed to be used.  I decided to make a kale salad and serve it with salmon left over from last night's dinner.  Normally I'd remove the kale stems, wash and chop it, then add dressing and immediately eat it.  However, in the interest of trying something different today I decided to make a massaged salad.

If you've ever eaten raw kale, you know it's tough and fibrous. However, iIf you massage it with (depending on the recipe) lemon juice, olive oil, or salt it becomes softer and easier to chew.  It also makes it less bitter.

After I chopped, washed, and dried the kale I put it in a bowl and added a tablespoon of lemon juice, two tablespoons of olive oil, a big pinch of kosher salt, and some pepper.  I tossed everything together to mix it, then took bunches of kale in my hands and rubbed them together.  It only took a couple of minutes for the greens to shrink in size and become glossy.  I sampled a piece, and it had a pleasingly smooth texture.

When I was done I transferred the kale to two bowls-one for me and one for Hubby Tony to eat with his dinner.  I ended up using mine as the basis of a main dish salad; I heated up the salmon filet and flaked it on top of the kale, then added some chopped cantaloupe and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.  It was good stuff.

Five years ago today:   Mocha Mask