Massaged kale salad topped with blueberries, goat cheese, slightly spicy candied almonds and finished with a creamy blueberry vinaigrette. Get at this summer goodness!
Guys. GUYS. Guess what?!
My friend Julia’s second cookbook was just published! Readers who have been around for a bit will remember that Julia’s first book came out earlier this year and was all about making your own probiotic drinks at home. This book, Let Them Eat Kale: Simple and Delicious Recipes for Everyone’s Favorite Superfood, is all about…can you guess? KALE!
Julia is the master at making all the healthy things. If I’m the queen of the carb, Julia is the queen of the veg. Even more than that, she is the master of making all the healthy things that I actually want to eat. And believe you me, it takes a lot for me to want to put down the pie/cheese/ice cream and crave vegetables. And yet, Julia manages to make me do just that on a regular basis.
So when I picked up her new book and found a recipe for Massaged Kale Salad with Rosemary Candied Walnuts and Creamy Blueberry Vinaigrette, I pretty much booked it to the store immediately. Candied nuts wait for no one.
In typical Stephie style, I played with a few components of the recipe – I changed out the walnuts for candied almonds with just a pinch of cayenne for subtle heat (trust me, don’t skip the cayenne – all you need is a pinch and it is amazing in these nuts) and swapped the red onion in the salad with some fresh summer sweet corn. And then I helped myself to a big heaping bowl of this salad because it is summer in a bowl. Oh, and because goat cheese. ‘Nough said.
Oo, guess what else?! One lucky reader will have a chance to win a copy of Let Them Eat Kale! To enter to win, just comment below and tell me what your favorite summertime vegetable or fruit is. Mine would have to be peaches. No, blueberries. No, strawberries. No…um…
Giveaway runs until Thursday, July 24 at 10 pm. Winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. Good luck!
Massaged Kale Salad with Creamy Blueberry Vinaigrette
Ingredients
For the creamy blueberry vinaigrette:
- 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries makes about 1/2 cup of syrup
- 2 to 3 tablespoons honey
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the candied almonds:
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- Dash of cinnamon
- Dash of ground ginger
For the massaged kale salad:
- 1 head kale stems removed and discarded, leaves chopped
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 ear of corn cooked and kernels cut off
- 1 pint blueberries
- 1/2 cup goat cheese crumbled
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Instructions
Prepare the creamy blueberry vinaigrette:
- In a covered saucepan, heat the blueberries and honey over medium heat until blueberry juices are seeping out and bubbly.
- Mash blueberries with a fork to help get juices out and cook an additional 5 minutes, but be careful not to let the mixture boil over. Remove from heat and strain blueberry syrup using a fine wire strainer. Discard the blueberry pulp and place syrup in the refrigerator to cool.
- Once cool, combine syrup with all other ingredients for the vinaigrette and mix vigorously with a whisk until smooth and creamy. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Prepare the salad:
- Place the chopped kale leaves in a salad bowl and drizzle the lemon juice over the leaves. Massage leaves with your hands about 2 minutes and let sit about 10 minutes in order to allow leaves to soften. Add all other salad ingredients to salad bowl and set aside.
Prepare the candied almonds:
- Using a small skillet, heat the olive oil and honey over medium-low heat. Add the almonds and stir to coat.
- Sprinkle a touch of cinnamon, ginger, cayenne and salt over the almonds and allow nuts to continue to toast another 3 to 5 minutes, stirring consistently. (Don't allow nuts to sit without stirring because the honey will burn quickly when unattended.) The nuts are ready when they are soft yet toasty, warm all the way through and have a nice glaze on the outside.
- Sprinkle warm almonds over the salad and drizzle with the blueberry vinaigrette. Toss to coat and enjoy!
About Stephie
Stephie is the creator of Stephie Cooks, a food blog that focuses on creating memories around the food we share, with family recipes at the site’s heart. Stephie lives in Central Illinois with her husband, daughter, and a menagerie of cats and dogs. When she’s not in the kitchen or at her computer writing, you can usually find her curled up with a book or working on one of her many grandma-esque hobbies. Learn more >
What a beautiful salad! I just love that dressing.
I am kind of obsessed with this. Love all the blueberries! So perfect for summer!
Such a great summer salad! Love that vinaigrette!
For me it’s a toss up between strawberries and watermelon when it comes to my favorite summer fruit. This salad looks delicious! Love those candied almonds, creamy goat cheese, and that wonderful blueberry vinaigrette! Pinned!
My favorite is ripe, juicy peaches!
I absolutely love watermelon!
Thanks for coming and linking up at The Weekend Social. Please be sure to come back next week starting Thursdays at 9PM EST on Kitchen Dreaming.com ! Pinned
I just had a blueberry ketchup for the first time…I think I need to keep up the fruity condiment pattern with this vinaigrette! If I had to pick one summer fruit/veggie I think it would be corn. With peaches coming in a very close second!
Seriously, so many great things to do with fresh sweet corn!
I recently tried a great raspberry vinaigrette and have been a fan of fruity dressings since… can’t wait to try this blueberry vinaigrette! Love the candied almonds as well, lots of great sweetness to offset the kale 🙂
Love that viniagrette and those almonds!