Summer Salad

Cottage Recipe: Kale Salad with Artichoke and Olives

This kale salad recipe is one of my favourites. And as always, when I’m in the kitchen, I rarely measure anything. Unless I’m baking something, in which case exact measurements are critical. I tend to just trust my gut. The more time you spend cooking and making recipes, the more you realize it’s really about instinct, and what tastes delicious to you.

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This summer salad is a perfect example. As you’ll see, I don’t give you any particular measurements of anything: the salad itself, or the dressing, because I want you to just feel out the recipe yourself. Do you love the flavour of black, pitted olives? Add as many as you’d like! Olive oil? Well, it must be the Italian in me because I never think you can have too much of a good thing.

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Whip this up easily, whether at the cottage, or during a languid summer Sunday at home. Plus, the more you let it marinade, the more depth of flavour it will yield. All you have to do next is decide what kind of wine you want to go with it. Enjoy!

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Ingredients:

  • Bunch of kale
  • Artichokes marinated in olive oil (you can find these in any grocery store these days).
  • Whole cherry tomatoes
  • Pitted, whole black olives
  • Yellow peppers (they have a lovely, natural sweetness).
  • Feta cheese
  • White wine vinegar
  • Lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil (the best you can find!)
  • Ground black pepper
  • Sea salt

Directions:

It couldn’t be any easier!

* Chop the kale into small, bite-sized pieces. Remember, this is a salad so you want to be able to eat it easily.

* Add to a big serving bowl, and then add your chopped artichokes, cherry tomatoes (you can keep them whole, or cut in half); yellow peppers (again bite-sized pieces), pitted whole black olives, and crumbled-up Feta cheese.

* The serving size of every ingredient above is up to you, just don’t go overboard with one over the other. Everything should be generally uniform so when you take a bite, you’re getting a little bit of everything.

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Dressing:

* As a general rule with basic vinaigrette, it’s typically one-to-two parts vinegar or acid to three-to-four parts oil. So, in a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil, white wine vinegar, lemon juice with ground black pepper and sea salt. Taste to see if it’s missing any seasoning – more black pepper, more salt, more lemon juice? Trust yourself here! You know what tastes good on your palette.

* Pour this dressing over the kale salad and let it sit for a couple of hours before serving. Kale has a tendency of being a bit bitter, so allowing the time for the salad to marinate will soften the leaves and lower the bitterness.