While most of my city likely rolled out of bed this morning thinking about Oregon Duck football, my mind was on kale salad. While watering my abundant nasturtiums last night it dawned on me that I hadn’t put them in any of my recent kale/collard salad combinations. Munching on the spicy leaves and flowers, I realized these would contribute an added punch to any salad creation.
Never going off of a recipe, my green salads are totally dependent on what is in the garden. Not much of a green-thumb, my gardening skills are limited to trial and error success. Over the years, I have realized that many greens and herbs literally grow like weeds, and weeds I can grow!
With kale/collard salads, it’s not so much the exact ingredients or measurements, it is more technique and experimenting with tastes. Both kale and collards can be tough, dry and chewy so the trick to making them more palatable is to either massage or bruise the leaves and/or slice leaves thinly and chop. I thinly slice or chiffonade all of the herbs to get the flavors distributed evenly. In a single bite, I would rather taste a mixture of mint, basil, parsley and chive instead of getting an entire leaf of one herb.
The key to a tasty dressing is a combination of oil, vinegar and/or citrus, salt and pepper. And don’t forget the crunch to top it off – there are so many choices; sesame, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin seeds and/or chopped nuts. Chopped avocado is also a nice addition but add it directly to individual servings because if there is salad left over, avocado will discolor.
So excited about those nasturtiums… 
Peppery Nasturtium & Kale Salad
- 4-6 cups kale leaves
- 10-12 nasturtium leaves
- 10-12 nasturtium flowers
- 10-12 mint leaves
- 2 stalks celery, thinly chopped
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1/4 cup finely chopped chives
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1/2 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- Salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste
Wash and vigorously dry kale leaves in a clean dish towel. If kale leaves are mature, remove the middle rib and discard. Stack leaves up and roll in a bunch. Slice leaves thinly and place in a large salad bowl. Thinly slice nasturtium leaves, flowers and mint. Add remaining ingredients and toss. Salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to meld flavors. Taste again adding additional sesame oil, lime juice or rice vinegar if needed.
This is what was in the garden last week…
3-Leaf Collard & Herb Salad
- 3 giant collard leaves (or 4 cups chopped collard greens)
10-12 pineapple sage leaves
10-12 large basil leaves
10-12 spinach leaves
6-8 arugula or watercress leaves
4 sprigs fresh parsley
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh oregano
1 lemon cucumber
8-10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
4-6 strawberries (optional)
1/4 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon hemp seeds
1 tablespoon walnut or olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar - Salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste
Wash and vigorously dry collard leaves in a clean dish towel. If collard leaves are mature, remove the middle rib and discard. Stack leaves up and roll in a bunch. Slice leaves thinly and then roughly chop and place in a large salad bowl. Roughly chop remaining leaves and herbs. Add remaining ingredients and toss. Salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to meld flavors.
Giant collard leaves not only make great salads, they make great no-carb/gluten-free salad wraps and make a wonderful meal wrapped around fish and grilled, baked or steamed.
I would love to hear from you! Please contact me through this website with any comments or questions. You can also find me on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Enjoy!
