Kale summer salad with marinated pears, grapes, roasted honey ricotta, and walnuts all topped with a creamy sweet and acidic plum dressing. There are always groanings, by my lovely family, when I bring a basket of our garden kale into the kitchen. This time was no different. I even got the look. But in the end, everyone cleaned their plates (I am still recovering). Also, I got compliments by my 12-year-old daughter (almost 13 – apparently this is a very important distinction) that this was a great salad. So here it is.
the mighty kale …
Kale is one of those super healthy vegetables that are so easy to grow in the garden or a bigger container. Just make sure to leave some space between the plants so that they get plenty of sunlight and have a nice circulating airflow.
Other than that I don’t fuss over them almost at all, except cleaning the weeds around and of course, picking the nice green leaves almost every other day.
They grow quite fast so 4 plants are plenty to go around. The best thing is that the frost does not bother them, nor the full sun (well not too much) so you can have kale all year long. Perfect right!
about the kale summer salad …
OK, first things first. It does take a bit of time to make this salad, but it is well worth the time. Trust me.
Also, the great thing is that the salad holds very well. So if you need a healthy and fulfilling work lunch, adjust the portions, and you are all set. Store the portion of the salad in the glass container and place it in the fridge.
Before eating let it rest on the counter for at least half an hour to warm up to room temperature a bit.
how to …
The process to make the salad does not involve any complicated tasks, but it does pay out to optimize the tasks. For example, when the walnuts are toasting, you can de-seed the grapes with a couple of shakes of the pan with the walnuts so that they don’t burn.
Please don’t skip the marinate for the pears. It makes one tasty difference. The heat of the grill should be on a high heat because we want the pears to have a bit of a crunch on the inside and not turn soft.
Deseeding the grapes can be quite fussy and boring, so if you can get seedless grapes more power to you!
The creaminess in the salad is achieved with the roasted ricotta. To boost the ricotta, I added freshly ground Timut pepper for extra citrusy and fruity aroma, which with honey just goes wonderfully. If you can try to find Timut pepper in your local spice store. It really has an amazing citrusy and fruity aroma.
The kale summer salad is great for parties as it holds very well.
Enjoy!
Kale summer salad
INGREDIENTS
SALAD
- 550 g kale (young, Tuscan)
- 150 g farro
- 150 g buckwheat (raw)
- 2 bay leaves (fresh)
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 pears (Bartlett, medium)
- 300 ml sweet white wine (Gewürtztraminer grapes)
- 15 g unsalted butter (Kerrygold)
- 140 g grapes (½ red and ½ white, seeds removed)
- 250 g ricotta
- Timut black pepper (Note 3)
- 1 tbsp honey (field flowers)
SALAD DRESSING
- 100 g plum marmalade (Note 1)
- 6 tsp umeboshi plum vinegar
- 4 tsp pear mustard (Green Friends)
- 4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 12 tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
TOPPINGS
- 80 g walnuts (toasted)
- 30 g pecorino romano cheese (shavings)
- 1 tbsp dry red pepper (crushed)
- 6 tsp aged balsamic vinegar (min 15 years, acidity 6%)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Preheat the oven to 230°C.
COOK THE GRAINS
- Add farro and buckwheat to separate cooking pots.
- To each cooking pot add the water so that the water level is at least 5cm above the grains. Also, add a bay leaf and salt. Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes or until the grains are cooked through but not mushy.
- Once cooked, drain the grains and rinse once with cold water. Transfer to a clean tray and spread evenly. Take out the bay leaves and let the grains cool to room temperature.
PREP THE KALE
- Wash the kale. Cut out the stem and cut the leaves into bite-size pieces. Spin the kale in the salad spinner to get rid of all the remaining water.
PREP THE PEARS
- Wash the pears and pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel.
- Slice the pears into ½ cm thick slices along the long edge of the pear. Add them one by one to a clean bowl (with flat bottom) and add the sweet white wine so that they are submerged in the wine. It's OK if some are sticking out, just coat them first in the wine.
- Leave them to marinate on the kitchen counter. (Note 2)
BAKING RICOTTA
- Place a clean parchment paper on the baking tray.
- Drain the ricotta if there is any water content. Carefully, tear ricotta into bit-size uneven pieces and spread on the baking tray.
- Sprinkle freshly ground timut pepper over the ricotta and drizzle the honey so that each piece gets a bit of each.
- Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- Turn on the broiler at 300°C and bake for another 5 minutes or until the tops of ricotta are starting to caramelize and darken. You want some darker specs on the ricotta.
- Take out of the oven and let it cool to room temperature.
GRAPES & WALNUTS
- Toast the walnuts in the skillet on the medium heat for 5 minutes or until the skin starts to detach and they are taking on color.
- Take the walnuts from the heat and place them on the clean kitchen towel. Cover with the kitchen towel and gently roll them so that the skin fall off on most of them.
- Take the walnuts from the kitchen towel, leaving the skin, and roughly chop them. Set aside.
- Cut the grapes in half and deseed them. Set aside.
GRILLING THE PEARS
- Heat the grill pan on high heat.
- Take the pear slices from the marinade and brush them with melted butter.
- Grill them for a minute or so on each side or until there is a nice grill mark on them.
- Transfer to a plate to cool to room temperature.
SALAD DRESSING
- Add all thee ingredients in the medium to a large jar.
- Close it tight and shake until all the ingredients are mixed evenly and the dressing is creamy (not runny) and there are no visible specks of olive oil in the jar.
ASSEMBLE THE SALAD
- Prepare 6 salad plates.
- In a large bowl add the kale and cooled grains. Mix gently so that all the ingredients are evenly incorporated.
- Add grapes and the salad dressing and mix again until all the ingredients are evenly coated with the dressing.
- Plate the salad evenly across the plates.
- Add pecorino shavings.
- Add the cooled roasted ricotta, pears, walnuts, and crushed red pepper.
- Drizzle with aged balsamic vinegar.
NOTES
- For the plum marmalade, I always use our homemade one since it has a reduced amount of sugar. Please note that if you use storebought it might be too sweet so please adjust accordingly, or if you can try to buy the one with less sugar.
- The marinade makes quite a difference in the pears once they are grilled. The wine enhances the pears just so slightly that once combined with the grill heat and the brushed butter the pears become quite amazing.
- Timut pepper has a pungent citrus fruity aroma. If you can’t find it in your local spice store you can safely omit it from the recipe.
